Green Awakening
by Verdant Wings
Summary: Something is...strange, in my forest. In my body. In my head. I walk in solitude, but why does it feel like something is watching? Secret eyes. Inhuman eyes. Why are they there? What is going on? What is happening to me?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Oh, no. Oh no, oh no, oh no, not again, this can't be happening. Not to me. Not to...

Tearing through my room, I desperately searched for something, anything, to cover it up. Must hide it. Maybe it will go away, if I just hide it. Or maybe it won't. Oh, maybe it won't!

Grabbing make-up, scarves, hats, anything, I dart to my vanity mirror and scrutinize my face, trying on first one disguise, then another. But deep down, I know it's futile.

With a sob, I eventually let the scarf in my hand fall in shimmering folds, and then I lean forward, trembling, onto my folded arms.

There's nowhere I can go. No one to turn to for help, for trust. If I try to tell anyone, I know what will happen. I do. I've seen it. My...my life will not be _mine _anymore. Instead, I will be trapped, surrounded for my own protection, and it still won't make any difference. There will be no place left to hide, because this thing—Won't—STOP.

It will keep growing, and changing, and taking over, until there's nothing of me left. Maybe I have no choice but to become. I'll change and change until it's done, and then, then they'll come for me. Here, where I'm supposed to be safe, they'll come for me.

Seems like it could only have been five minutes ago that this all started. Not hours, days, weeks. But between then and now, I feel like I've aged entire lifetimes. My body and mind can't endure this without some sort of price. It was such a short time ago, before my world twisted . Shifted. Changed.

Mr. Clancy paced at the front of the room, gesturing with his free hand while pointing at some chart with the ruler in his other. His tie was tucked into his belt again, though I was fairly sure he didn't realize it. His comb-over barely covered over anything, so that the bald scalp shone out regardless, as if trying to escape the sweaty constriction of hair. Not particularly appealing.

The sun looked appealing outside, but it was a lie. This autumn day couldn't have topped 60 degrees, for all the buttery sunshine. Speaking of butter, I didn't get nearly enough breakfast this morning. The energy from the butter and jelly seemed to burn up before I got to school. Urrgh, I was hungry! Maybe my stomach was eating itself. Well, now it was a gamble of whether I'd die of boredom or starvation first. Hmm, death...Oh, yeah. Civil War.

Let's see, Battle of Saratoga. Mr. Clancy recited the specifics in a monotone voice, obviously as bored as I was. Umm, death, killing, fighting, some bloody stuff, some more death…I saw a pattern there, and didn't really care to focus on it.

Ooh, goose bumps!

Grimacing, I glared sideways across the room, trying to pin the culprit to the wall. Somebody'd opened a window on the far side of the room, and now I could feel the chilly wind sneak up my back. For the love of heat, were they numb? It was frigging cold out there! And I didn't even have a jacket. My t-shirt was still damp, and my jacket was in my locker. And my hair was sticky. And my car might be up on blocks when I got back outside.

Grrr.

It occurred to me that the start to my day must have been a harbinger of how the rest would play out. And, it had not started well.

Waking up at 6:15 this morning, I had dragged myself into the shower with my gritty eyes half-closed. Turning the silver knobs to the right temperature was a challenge in itself, and I'll not even discuss the trouble I had getting out of my pajamas. When at last I triumphantly entered the shower, I simply stood and waited for the steamy drench to wash away the fuzz in my head. There were minimal results. Last night had not been what one would call peaceful. I'd dreamed again, like I used to do when I was little. Several times. And now I was dreaming with a theme, though at least it wasn't a nightmare. Just strange. So strange.

Giving up complete alertness as a lost cause, I grabbed the shampoo bottle and lathered up without holding my eyes open any longer.

Ten minutes later, I woke up again and rinsed out my hair, after peeling my cheek off the wall where I'd leaned when I'd dozed off. The whole side of my face was grainy, copying the texture of the shower siding. Hopelessly attempting to rub my skin back to normalcy, I completed the rest of my morning routine, including teeth-brushing, hair-de-tangling, contact-cleaning, and deodorant-applying. It was only at the last moment that I remembered the deodorant goes in the armpits.

In a slightly more wakeful frame of mind, I retreated to my bedroom. While sifting through piles of clothes on the floor, I happened to glance at my bedside alarm clock. I was suddenly even grumpier, and much more energized.

7:20 AM. None of the clothes on my floor were clean, as the floor itself hadn't been vacuumed for months. Hey, it hadn't even seen sunshine for longer than I cared to remember. Panicked, I ran into the laundry room and rummaged through the dryer for something not so dirty. Grabbing the first black t-shirt I found, I yanked it on over my head and settled it around my shoulders. It was still damp, and not at all pleasant in the brisk morning chill. But there was no time. I still had to manage my hair somehow, and crap, I definitely needed some food!

My growling stomach urged me to even speedier action. Yanking a brush through my rising curls, I forced them into a handy ponytail and headed downstairs before I could worry too much about my appearance.

Mom was already alert and sparkly, having the uncanny ability to rise from bed with a positive attitude. I've never mastered that one. Never even tried, really.

"Morning, sweetie!!" she chirped, popping toast into the toaster with butter and jam at the ready. "Are you hungry?"

I just stared at her, trying to formulate a coherent sentence, and perhaps not babble for once.

"Could you just, just not do that sho earr…ear…," A unexpected yawn cracked my face in half, making her chuckle.

"Early in the morning? It's kinda unnerving," I finished. She just smiled and kept making my breakfast.

I swear, my stomach is a black hole. I'm pretty much _always _hungry, but Mom knows this, and prepares well.

Bryan wasn't up yet. He rarely got up before 9:00 AM, but then, he didn't have to. Being two, he only had to watch cartoons and beat up stuffed animals all day.

Lucky.

Regrettably, this morning he decided to be the early bird. At that moment, he began to squall from his upstairs bedroom. The shriek just went on and on, jangling on my frazzled nerves. I groggily wondered what interesting shade of blue he would turn, if he never did stop screaming.

As Mom bustled out of the kitchen, I took over the breakfast operation, and clumsily nabbed the pieces of bread when they popped up. Blowing on my toasted fingers, I proceeded to spread on the butter and jelly, before retiring to the kitchen table with my meal.

Five minutes later, I woke up for the third time that morning, and pulled my ponytail out of the jelly where it had landed. Just then, Mom came down the stairs with Bryan on one hip, shushing and cuddling him into complacency.

"Don't you need to be heading off to school, honey?" Looking closer at me, she amended that. "Better yet, how many fingers am I holding up?" I halfheartedly glared up at her. "It's almost 8:00, Sam." Now I had barely enough time to get to school without getting detention.

Mom spoke with concern, but a bit of amusement crept in. Taking in my disheveled appearance, she stuffed Bryan into his blue plastic highchair and wrapped my toast in a paper towel. With bustling efficiency, she then turned and snagged my bookbag, shoving both that and my breakfast into my hands. In her blue fleece sweater, she resembled a fuzzy, azure tornado as she worked. Before I took a second bite, she was hustling me out the front door, and left me standing bemusedly on the front step, keys dangling from my thumb. She's got being a mother down to a science.

We live on the very outskirts of town, and the high school is more near the center, along with the town square and assorted businesses. Hopping into my car, I stuck the keys into the ignition and resignedly backed out of the driveway, heading forward with the general flow of traffic.

I drove in a daze, barely registering my surroundings, wishing that I'd walked, instead of jumping into the man-made death trap. Oh, well. Classes beckon way too early. Have to enlarge the hole in the ozone instead.

The first two periods weren't anything special. Algebra and Chemistry didn't exactly light up my life. Now I was here, stuck in the never-ending mod of history, trying to look awake enough to keep out of detention. Why wouldn't he just shut up?

Restlessly shifting, I let my gaze roam around the room a bit. Bulletin boards and outdated posters covered the walls, much the same in every other classroom. The students scrunched into desk seats, trying not to fall asleep, just like in every other class. It was all so square and defined. So dull, but I had nothing else to look at. Everyone was either sleeping, actually studying, glaring at their folded arms, or...visually wandering, like the pair of eyes that met my own.

A tired blue, they were, and surrounded by plenty of fly-away dusty-blond hair. They didn't flinch away, and I found myself caught in an unwanted staring contest. Unfortunately, I was no good at eye-contact. I always felt like it made other people as uncomfortable as it did me, so I'd start to blush in embarrassment, and before you knew it I'd turn a humiliating Irish-heritage red. Ducking my head again, I pretended I'd never looked at all. I doubted he even noticed, but it was best to act nonchalant. That's right, avoid the awkwardness. Always easier that way. Always smarter...

Surreptitiously glancing again, I saw the back of his head as he watched the sunshine drift through the leaves of the trees, creating a never-ending jigsaw puzzle on the school grounds. Not a bad-looking guy, from the glimpse I'd caught. Not amazing or anything, though. Just ordinary. Kind of like me.

I thought his name was…umm…Cull, Cullen Davers. Yeah, that was it. He might have had Art with me. Maybe.

Just above my head, the rusty old bell system sounded, making me start so badly that I dropped my pencil. Shifting my shoulders again under my clinging t-shirt, I stuffed all my things into my book bag and slung it over my shoulder, before continuing on to Health.

"Just Say No!" Sure, if they repeated it often enough, it'd all of a sudden matter in our heads. There would be a blinding moment of truth, when we'd realize how all drugs were a straight path to Hell. Sure. In a few years, we'd be old enough to smoke and drink with abandon, and then what good would all their speeches have done? For every person, like me, who wanted to avoid the stupidity, there were dozens more who already reveled in it. Might as well save the oxygen.

As the clock hands continued their endless cycle, lunchtime arrived. Slouching to the cafeteria, I drifted in with as little disturbance as possible. Not that it would matter if I'd screamed, though. A thousand different shrieks, laughs, shouts, and whispers resounded in the rafters, combining into a mass as colorful as the lunch itself.

Trying not to bump into anyone, I shuffled through the line as quickly as possible, and then strode quickly to my habitual table.

Michelle was already there, carefully arranging her silverware and straw before taking meticulous bites of her messy mashed potatoes. She wiped her lips after every mouthful, as if paranoid that some stubborn gravy would cling and ruin her personal image forever. Whatever floated her boat, I supposed. At least she was eating again.

Sliding into a chair opposite of her, I peeled open my milk carton and sat back with a sigh. Half-way done, now. After school, I'd escape outside, to the limitless sky and dark woods, where I only listened to the wind. Yeah, that'd help. I just needed some time in solitude, I thought.

Slowly, our table filled with the regulars: Daniel, Shawna, Nicole, Aaron. They chattered of silly things, like usual. Generally, I would have joined right in, babbling with the rest. But not today. I was too tired.

Daniel looked at me strangely, and, when I glanced dover, questioned me with his eyes. It's nothing, my own replied. It's just been a long day.

And it really wasn't anything. I just had these phases, every once in a while. They were my blah days, when nothing really seemed quite worth the effort. Why get out of bed? I'd just have to get back in it at the end of the day. Why be sociable? I could save that for tomorrow.

Sitting silently amid the buzz, my eyes shifted aimlessly around, alighting for a moment on a shifting sunbeam, a flashing smile full of teeth, a moth fluttering near the roof. The rafters in the lunchroom could have used at least a thorough dusting, if not a new coat of paint, but then that old bird's nest would be thrown away, and where would the hatchlings sleep? Students gossiped and flitted from table to table, and even though I couldn't hear their words, the meanings were fairly clear. I slid farther into my chair, sinking into the warmth of the sun through the window, needing to move but not knowing how or why. The sky out of the upper windows was a wind-swept blue, streaked here and there with wraith-like clouds. Blue, a deep blue. A tired blue, with a pupil in the middle that was...looking straight at me again.

With a start, I wrenched my gaze away. Twice in one day? Honestly, he was going to think I was a stalker. And I hardly even knew him! Cringing a little inside, I determinedly studied my plate, willing the green beans to stand up and dance or something, to entertain me.

But it wasn't doing any good. My shirt was too clingy, my shoes were too tight, my hair was too frumpy, and I just wanted to get out. Get out, alone and quiet.

The bell rang again, signaling the rush that made up the rest of my school hours. Thankfully, nothing else awkward happened during the final mods, and at long last I was free to escape home, or at least out of the school. But I didn't want walls now. Not more walls, with this lovely, brilliant weather that seemed so endless. Outside was where I wanted to be, out with the wind. Though it had thousands of voices, I didn't have to try to understand them. Usually.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

My footsteps broke the silence, crackling sharply as I plowed my way through early drifts of leaves. My windbreaker rustled against itself as I strode forward, creating a whispering counterpoint to my noisy progress. Glittering warmly, the sun sent columns of light to the forest floor, filled with careening dust motes. They darted around as if actually alive, meeting and parting with a whispering touch. I could hear birds off in the distance, but as I drew near they all grew silent, until it felt like I was the only living thing in my small sphere.

Here. Now I could breathe. Now I could let my muscles relax a bit, and just let the tension seep from my shoulders. As I walked, I smiled to myself, enjoying the musty scents of fall. No eraser dust, no cologne over-dosage, no stinking asphalt. I really should have come here more often, on days like today, days when living in civilization was so irritating.

I had no direction today. It was enough to let my feet wander of their own volition. Everything was worth exploring, even the mundane details, like the moss filling the cracks in the rocks, and the water line on the creek banks. All quiet, and peace.

Eventually, I came to rest leaning on a damp boulder beside the wandering creek. Here, the sun was bright enough to warm away the inherent chill of the stone, making me want to stretch out like a cat on a windowsill. After my day, I just wanted a minute of true rest, time to close my eyes and let my mind wander where it would. Sighing, I settled my head back on the rock, rolling my neck carefully. A slight wind teased hairs around my face, tickling my nose. The sun was just so nice, settling like a warm quilt over my face and shoulders. I could just fall asleep right here. So warm, and so cozy, and just simply quiet…

An awful shriek rent the air, shattering my hard-earned tranquility. Blood racing, I shot upright, glancing around wildly for the source of the noise. Panic filled my brain, leaked over into the rest of my body. Panic, pain, writhe and struggle, must get free, have to get out!!

I was up and darting down the path before I regained enough sense to slow down. Grabbing the nearest tree and holding on, I fought to slow my pulse and get control over myself. I couldn't stand still. The adrenaline of fear shot through my blood, making me grate my fingers along the bark to distract the tense energy. Panic, I can't breathe right, I can't see right, what is happening? Where am I?

Pain! Oh, my leg, it hurts, something's got me and I can't get loose! Rip and tear and fight and strive, I cannot be trapped, I can't, I'll die! Fight!

The sheer desperate energy courses through me without explanation, turning a sunlit, lazy afternoon into a terror-filled nightmare. I gape down at my leg, looking for the source of my torment, and my breath hitches as I see fur, and claws.

My leg? Where is my leg? That's not it, is it? No, can't be. No, no, no! Wait.

Wait.

My panic? Breathe. Yesyesyesyes...No. Not my panic. This panic I've never felt before, not ever. Not my panic at all.

With that realization, the torrential emotion shockingly sucked in, walling itself off in one section. It was like a funnel had planted itself in my head, siphoning off the raw emotion into a containable area. Trembling and panting, I squeezed my eyes shut for many minutes, trying to slow my pulse and make my world stop spinning. It only worked a little bit.

However, as my breathing returned to normal, an even stranger thing happened. I found I could actually _see_ the panic. Like a raging black ball of electricity, shot through with shockingly red lightning, it crouched. It was still in my brain, and still so powerful.

What had happened? I was sitting so peacefully, on this sweet, free day, and out of nowhere I was steam-rollered by someone else's spaz attack!! One thing was for sure, it was not going away. It huddled in one corner of my mind, sending out occasional tendrils of pain that stung.

Still, by the second it lost ferocity, and diminished in size as well. I found myself holding my breath and wrinkling up my forehead, concentrating with all my might on soothing the pain, controlling the terror. Anything to ease it, to make it stop hurting. And ease, it eventually did.

When I finally opened my eyes again, the day was dimmer, and the sun much farther down in the sky. Now I lay in a bank of shadow, and the chill was seeping in. Bewildered, I lay there in the dusk, trying to make sense of what had happened. I was so tired now, and I just wanted to go somewhere safe, maybe home where the warm quilts were. Yet, I could not think of leaving, of going home to relative security. Not logical, at all. Though it made me question my sanity, I could'nt make myself go just yet.

Something was left undone, something so terribly important that I must act, and seize it now, before I could think too much. Today. Fueled by this strange, undeniable urge, I struggled upright, hoping the reason for this insanity would manifest. The sooner I figured it out, the sooner I could finish it and go home. Home where things made sense. Then, I heard a small, pitiful cry in the undergrowth, filled with pain and fear, and knew. The panic source.

Lumbering to my feet, stretching out my tense muscles and shaking my head, I shaded my eyes from the setting sun. I stared into the surrounding trees, trying to find the cause of that force of raw emotion. A light breeze stirred the treetops, making a ceaseless motion that tricked the eyes.

Finally, I caught sight of a bush trembling out of time with the wind, shaking back and forth with some inner frenzy. I stumbled as quickly as I could across the stream, slipping from stone to stone, until I reached the site of the upheaval. Crouching, I parted thorny branches on a wild rose bush, trying not to get stuck, but getting scratched anyways. I could not stop, not now. Something needed to be done.

Finally, at the heart of the bush, a pair of frightened, deep eyes stared out. They were nearly black, and attached to them was the quivering head and body of a rabbit. Upon seeing me, the animal reared back, jerking back and forth in an effort to get free. Again, the shock of instant adrenaline hit my system, but I had halfway expected, giving up my skepticism for a short time. Gritting my teeth and clenching my hands, I forced the panic back into hiding, to a place where I could control it to some extent. Once I had a hold on it, I returned my attention to the rabbit. Hoping not to startle the thing further, I sat still, looking for what held it captive.

It wasn't hard to figure out. Stabbing branches wound around the rabbit's forelegs, effectively trapping it in the web of roses. As I came to grips with the wild fear and observed the thing's predicament, the rabbit quieted by little bits, eventually settling into a fairly relaxed state, staring at me with liquid eyes.

Once I decided, I acted with speed. Taking off my windbreaker, I wrapped it around my hands several times, trying to create a barrier from both thorns and rabbit claws. Then, I gingerly stuck my hands into the mess, seized the twisted vines, and tried to find their beginning. The process was tedious, and obviously painful to the rabbit, but the animal struggled much less than I expected. Only when receiving a particular painful jab did it thrash, making my work more difficult. At one point, frustrated by the pace, I yanked a branch harder than I should have, and received a stinging jab of my own.

Hastily drawing back my hand, I pulled it out of the constricting jacket, and then stuck the offended finger in my mouth. It didn't want to stop bleeding, however. Red blood beaded at the hole, and then spilled over, running down my hand. More and more poured out, a small crimson stream. The volume of blood flowing seemed a bit excessive for the small cut, but maybe it was like a head wound: a little pain, a lot of blood. When I gave up and returned to freeing the rabbit, drops of red fell on the ground, immediately soaking into the leaf layer.

Finally, I rocked back on my heels and stretched my back the other direction, aching from having crouched so long. The rabbit was free, but it did not immediately dash into the undergrowth. Instead, it paced for a time, testing out its paws tentatively, and then it merely sat there, staring at me. Which was weird, to say the least.

But nothing about today had been normal. That dream in the early waking hours, both eerie and familiar, of green hands and human-like faces covered in brush, like camouflaged soldiers. Except, these faces weren't the stone walls that I would imagine soldiers to have. These faces were so alive, and vibrant, and…strong. So strong, and then they grabbed me, and I was flying, terrified, soaring over brush and through avenues of trees, soaring without any sense of how or why. Finally, we approached something of great importance, of great height, and I was filled with the strum of power before we ever reached it. Almost in sight, almost there, the glow, the terrifying, powerful life. Almost…And then I would wake with a jolt, and stare around me, eyes wide, until the walls of my room returned to their usual plaster and paint.

Add to that my train of bad luck, and now my amazing ability to commune with rabbits. Rabbits, of all things.

Plopping back onto my butt, I groaned as the rabbit continued to stare at me. Not much later, thoroughly disconcerted by its unblinking eyes, I unsteadily stood, and stumbled back into the woods, heading towards home. Only, nothing really looked like it had before. Nothing at all.

There was a creek behind me, and boulders on the other side much like the one I'd laid against, but they didn't look quite...right. Maybe it was just the light. The sun was halfway below the horizon at this point, casting a twilight glow on everything, giving the normal an air of mystery. Well, it wasn't like I could've gotten lost. I'd been through these woods more times than I could count. All I needed to do was wander around a bit until I saw something a bit more familiar.

The forest was fairly quiet, at that point in time when the day creatures are settling, and the night creatures are just waking up. I strode with my eyes wide open, letting my feet wander along rustling pathways and through dimly lit junctures of trees. As I went, my stomach began to growl, reminding me that not only had I not eaten much lunch, but I hadn't stopped for dinner yet, either. It grumbled again, demanding, and it was at that moment that I smelled the most delicious smell of my entire life. Just like that. Wham.

My stomach lurched in response, and without conscious decision, my feet sped, until I was nearly jogging through the twilight. Though my steps neatly drowned out most sounds, more shaking bushes caught my eye from the right, and I turned to see my wayward rabbit keeping pace. It only took its eyes off my face long enough to dodge trees and boulders. But I didn't stop.

The smell grew stronger and more potent, seeping into my nose and down the back of my throat. I searched as I ran, darting around trees and through hedges, nearly frantic now in my sudden hunger. The scent was everywhere, and yet there was a point of intensity. One that was approaching quickly.

As my breath began to rasp and my eyes watered, I burst through a barrier of brush into a bright, bright clearing. Everywhere, absolutely everywhere, there were flowers.

They stabbed out of the meadow floor, a deep, deep red, their blossoms open even at the end of the day. End of the day. Wait, why was it so bright here? It had been twilight before, the sun lowering almost past the distant horizon, and the shadows had been lengthening…but what did that matter? I was so hungry, and it smelled so good here. Cautiously treading so that I didn't crush a single glorious plant, I crossed into the clearing, and settled into the midst of them. Looking closer, I saw that each had a cluster of berry-like things at the base of the bud, bunched so thickly that the point between stem and flower could not be seen. Curious, I reached out a hand to touch the strange, tiny fruit, and one burst open under my touch.

Suddenly, I could barely see for the profound allure of that smell. It filled my head until most other senses were lost, until I no longer cared about pain or hunger or previously dwindling daylight. Before I could help myself, I grabbed a flower and stuffed the berries into my mouth, chewing frantically at the succulent fruit. The taste was even more amazing than the smell. I couldn't get enough. I kept eating and eating, and no matter how many I ate, my stomach still grumbled for more. But as I swallowed, my eyelids began to weigh down, until I could barely keep them open. Still mindlessly chewing, I sank to my side, completely absorbed by the awesome feel in my mouth. I swallowed, but before I could reach for any more of the amazing stuff, my eyelids slammed completely closed. The last image in my brain was the benign, nodding heads of the flowers.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

My mouth felt like a sour old prune when I woke up. My tongue was so dry that I could have sanded a two-by-four with it. When I forced my sticky eyes to open up, the sun was nearly past the horizon, with only a glow dimly visible through the darkening trees. The meadow was almost filled with shadow now, gray and quiet. The trees swayed in the breeze, making the last shadow-fingers writhe.

Bracing myself, I gingerly sat up, not entirely sure what to expect after all that had happened. Berry juice stained my fingers a deep, dark bloody red, sticky and sweet. After trying to scrub them off on the surrounding earth I began to rearrange myself, starting with my frizzy hair. It had fallen half out of its ponytail during my rush through the woods, and sticky strands of it clung to my neck. Even more irritating, my clothes were twisted into all kinds of weird positions from my involuntary nap on the hard ground.

Still, all things considered, I felt, well, better than I could remember feeling for quite a while. Not that I'd felt badly, before. I'd been doing alright, no illness or injury for a while. But this, this was a different kind of well-being. Better, brighter…different.

I stood up, stretching, and a weird feeling came over me. My limbs were unusually bendy and supple, but yet still stable and firm. I arched my feet, tensing my legs, and then let them fall again, marveling in the odd sensation. As I shifted, each tendon and bone was in perfect concert.

Twisting and curling my body, I was deeply breathing in the sweet air when a peculiar thing happened. A strange, sudden energy coursed through my body, filling me with an illogical vitality. Illogical, because I hadn't exactly gotten a lot of rest lately. But now, I felt almost giddy, like for one bare second I could do absolutely anything. Maybe those berries were some kind of woodland drug, and I'd unwittingly become a user of something close to shrooms.

Still, I felt good. Stronger, maybe. Maybe. Or maybe nothing had happened, and this had all been a strange dream. But no, no. There was the juice on my fingers, in this unfamiliar clearing. It was all so vivid, and then almost too vivid, like when the dreams seem more real than life itself. Still, something had...changed. I didn't know what it was, or what would happen because of it, but it was there. Something was perceptibly, permanently different. Or maybe that was just wishful thinking. Anything to make the purpose of this more clear, anything to help clear the confusion.

A slight chill rose from the ground, now that there was no sun to warm it. I wanted to stay and explore this place some more, but it was getting dark, and besides, I probably wouldn't be finding any more answers here. Not in this meadow filled with ferns and innocent bluebells, nodding and swaying with the light breeze…Wait, what? Bluebells?!

Where had all those other flowers gone? They'd been everywhere, and they'd smelled like Christmas cookies and fresh sheets and apple orchards, all rolled into one indescribable scent. Not that those things should smell so good, all mixed together. But they had. Or perhaps it was the memories they'd brought? Either way, I'd lost control, for a while there. Over berries. Silly little berries.

Suddenly, all the magic of what had happened to me seemed less than good. Nothing was fun about losing control of myself, especially when I had no idea of who the new puppeteer was. And that's what had happened, in that crazy frenzy. I think. Maybe.

Best not to think about that now. Better to just focus on getting home.

Tired of all the mystery in this place, I turned around to leave the meadow and head towards home. The way seemed easy in my head, now. However, I was not as alone as I'd thought. Like twin beacons, a pair of bright, intense eyes jumped out of the undergrowth, making me leap backwards and slap a hand over my jumpy heart.

The eyes were attached to a great deal of sleek, auburn hair and a quirked tail, which, as my frantic eyes settled, resolved themselves into the form of a fox. The fox didn't even twitch when I jumped, but instead sat and stared at me in a way that was both familiar and unsettling. Testing it, I lifted a foot and kicked in its direction, fed up with all these unnaturally calm, strangely wise-looking animals. It didn't budge.

I wasn't feeling wise. I was feeling flighty and superstitious and entirely too gullible for my tastes. I'd been reading too many fiction books, that was definite. Flying green people? Wise rabbits? Seductive flowers? I had to get home, hide in my room, relax back into reality. Much as I'd envied the characters in those stories, that didn't mean I wanted _my_ world wrenching around.

So I went home. And I steadfastly ignored the quiet rustlings behind me, as the fox haunted my footsteps.

When I reached my front porch, the return of the suburban scene had almost restored me to a sense of calm and control. Here, surrounded by dusky sidewalks and satellite dishes, the shady meadows, mysterious creatures, and questionable plants seemed less and less real. That was definitely more comfortable, more secure.

Surreptitiously glancing behind me, I didn't see the fox, or the rabbit, or any other Snow White cast-offs. Good.

Striding in the front door with more confidence than I felt, I shouted to Mom,

"I'm home!"

"Samantha! Where on Earth have you been?" Mom fizzed and sputtered as soon as I walked in. "I haven't seen you for hours!"

I did forget to leave a note, didn't I? Crap. Now I have to explain, and I don't know what to say. What do I tell her? I'm on shaky mental ground? I'm a regular Dr. Doolittle? The entire basis of reality that I live on has been warped all out of proportion?

"I went for a walk in the wood. Sorry about, umm, forgetting to leave a note. It was just a pretty day."

She sighed, resigned. "It's alright. I just worry, you know, and then it got dark and you still weren't home--"

"I know, I'm sorry. I just needed to be alone for a while, and I totally forgot about the time."

"Well, alright, just let me know next time, okay? People go missing all the time. They were just taking a quick walk to the grocery store and then they're never heard from again. Maybe I should get you a cellphone or a taser or--"

I cut her off before she started to order Kevlar.

"Umm, yeah. I guess. I'm gonna go do my homework now, okay?"

"Alright," she said, abstracted, obviously trying to work out ways to ensure nothing bad would ever happen to me. Good luck with that. I escaped while I still could.

Now that I was alone again, I let some of the tension drain out, tromping up the stairs to my bedroom. Even the worn, wooden steps were a comforting reminder of security.

Letting out a deep breath, I turned into my bedroom, and quickly threw open my blinds to night world, staring outside. I didn't really want to know if anything was watching the house, but I knew I'd feel better having looked than wondering about it all night. Nothing unusual popped out, though that didn't really mean anything. Not much more I could do than that, unfortunately. No superhero senses here, just nervous, weirded-out girl ones. Wandering to my bed, I flopped down, spreading out my arms like I used to fall on Mom's waterbed. It felt great to lay down. It had been quite a day.

Lifting my arms to stretch them behind my head, I let my eyes start to drift closed. Even with that nap, I was just tired to the bone, especially now that the adrenaline rush was gone. Energy rush. Whatever that had been.

My eyelids were drawing closed, and already my mind was floating off, when something hit me as not quite right. I felt okay, and Mom was downstairs, and Bryan wasn't crying, but something was off. I halted the progress of my eyelids, glancing around the room in unease. And then I froze, when I reached my arm.

Forcing my eyes back open again, I stared at the limb. In between all the scrapes and scratches I'd gained today, there was a faint tracery of something on my forearm. Thin lines snaked their way over my skin, creating a pattern, both familiar and alien. They looked like some weird hippy tattoo, gone way overboard. The faint marks ran down low near my wrists and disappeared up johj under my t-shirt sleeves. Thinking them strange grass stains or something, I absentmindedly started to rub at one. It didn't even smear. It was as I was rubbing with a bit more worry that I noticed something else. The things weren't just on that forearm. They were all over.

Panicking, I grabbed one arm, nearly twisting it out of its socket as I yanked it over, trying to see the far side as well. The freaking things were all over my arms! I knew Bryan hadn't drawn on me in my sleep again, because I hadn't actually made it to dreamland yet, and besides, he was supposed to be in his crib. So, what were they? Why were they there? Oh, no, were they everywhere?

Suddenly wide awake, I scrambled out of my bed and rushed in front of my vanity mirror, my adrenaline spiking yet again. Anxiously staring at my cheeks and forehead, I prayed I wouldn't find anything else out of the ordinary.

Nope, it was still just me. Blood-shot green eyes stared out of the mirror, wide and scared. Fuzzy red hair fluttered around my face, disturbed by my haste. But no strange lines, no spontaneous tattoo art. Just me, I think.

That was what I had to do. Think. What was I going to do? I couldn't let anyone see these!! I'd have to wear long-sleeved shirts until the marks went away, but who knew how long that would be? Regardless, there was no way I could let anybody find these. Especially not Mom. Oh, crap, what if Mom saw these? She'd freak out, and then next I knew I'd be grounded until death, and what could I do? I could't tell her I'd been out in the woods, wolfing down unidentified berries and having strange communion with cute, fuzzy woodland critters. Then she'd think I'd not only gone and got myself tatted up, but that I was also drugged out of my mind and in need of rehab. Great.

I perched on the vanity chair, trying to get a grip and calm down, calm down and think of how to handle this. That was what I did best. I just kept going, and hoped it would all turn out alright.

Of course, that was when Mom decided to stick her head through my bedroom door.

"Hey, honey, I was thinking maybe…"

With a squeak, I leaped onto my bed, yanking my fuzzy comforter up over my torso and shoving my arms underneath. There was an long, long, uncomfortable beat of silence.

"What on Earth are you doing?" Mom said with a half-puzzled, almost serious twist to her face.

"Umm, nothing, I just got cold, you know, and it was like when you get one of those shudders and you just GOTTA have a blanket. You know."

"Sure, Annie," she drawled, almost grinning but still not sure if she should be worried. After staring at me for a couple of minutes, she just shrugged and said, "You are such a weird kid. My parents told me that when I was little, but I just thought they were weird grown-ups. What comes around, and all that." With a shake of her head, she backed out of the door.

I relaxed, letting the blanket slide down my arms, when she stuck her head back in again. I didn't even bother to gasp.

"Anyways, what I came up to ask was do you want to have a taco pizza tonight? We could rent a movie and do French manicures or something."

"Sure, Mom, that sounds great." Maybe I wouldn't have to worry so much about her noticing, after all.

This time, I waited until I heard her tread down the stairs before I flung the blanket off and buried my head in the nearest pillow.

It had not been the best day.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

We did end up having taco pizza that night. As I came downstairs, garbed in a fuzzy flannel sweater, I heard the doorbell ring.

"Who are you, Paula Bunyan?" Mom asked me with a grin, obviously prepared to share the joke that I was pulling. She took the pizza from the delivery boy, handing him a decent tip as she did.

"Something like that." I mumbled back, hoping she would just leave it at that. Glancing elsewhere, trying to act nonchalant so she wouldn't push it, I found myself caught by some startlingly, irritatingly familiar blue eyes.

Oh, for the love of all that is sane.

Cullen Davers, clothed in the blue and gray uniform of Pizza Palace, held my gaze for a long, long silence. Or maybe it wasn't all that long, but it sure felt as if I stared at him for the space of all eternity. I could feel my face heating up, but I noticed a hint of red creeping up his neck at the same time, which salvaged my pride somewhat.

Finally, we both broke the staring contest, and found terribly interesting things to stare at on the walls. Mom looked bemusedly at the two of us, before getting this smug little smile and practically dashing off to put the pizza in the kitchen. Like we wouldn't just eat out of the box on the living room floor.

I suddenly really wished I wasn't wearing a frumpy, over-sized flannel sweater. And it would have been nice if I didn't have a serious case of bed hair.

Not at all sure what to do with the situation, I struggled for something inane to break the ice with, something about the weather or the upcoming American History test or the political situation in South Africa.

Cullen coughed and shuffled his feet, making me feel even _more_ awkward because _he _was awkward and, and…it was just a mess. To top it all, before I'd managed to make my paralyzed tongue do something useful, he was retreating back out the door, heading to his car with what could only be called a desperate stride.

"Umm, see you later," he called over his shoulder, not looking at me again.

Huh.

Well, that was one of the most awkward things that's ever happened to me. Okay, maybe not quite, but what was up with that? I get tongue-tied with the pizza delivery guy? I'm not exactly the social queen, but I'm not stunted either. What on Earth did I get all flustered for? Well, sure, I'm dressed like a goof, but so what?

Of course, if this was a movie, it would be because I had suddenly discovered a deep and burning passion in my heart for this tall, blonde-haired, blue-eyed, prince-in-disguise. Yeah. Like that's happening.

Cullen's car grumbled out of the driveway, strobing headlights through the angle of the door to play over me.

Honestly, I refuse to develop even a small crush on the boy just because we locked eyes a few times. Life doesn't really happen like that. Not to anyone, but especially not to me.

I'm just not that gullible anymore.

And furthermore, I have long gotten over the habit of harboring unrequited love for a guy. It sounds all fine and well in romantic old stories, but in real life, it very much sucks.

I'm not going to do it. So there.

Besides, I think I have a few bigger problems at the moment. Like figuring out how not to be any more of a freak than I apparently already am. I mean, good grief, I must be worse than I thought, because he practically _ran_--

Focus. Crazy spontaneous tattoos. Evasion of the inquisitive mother. Prevention of total insanity. Priority re-arrangement is definitely needed.

Having thus repressed my irritating hormones , I was able to turn to Mom as she returned from the kitchen without the mortification I'd felt just a few minutes ago.

"Was that the delivery boy leaving?" she asked, with much more regret than the situation required.

"Yep."

"Well, what did he say?"

Rolling my eyes, I said "Nothing much, Mom. He just came to deliver the pizza, after all. Which is getting cold. I'm starving."

"Oh." She looked crestfallen. She'd probably hoped I would throw my number at him as he made the get-away dash to his car. She's hopeless, sometimes.

However, she quickly recovered from the crushing disappointment, and decided to pick on me instead.

"Hungry, huh? Now, how could that be possible? You're never hungry. Honestly, I think you're stunting your own growth. You're so short and puny and stuff."

"Hah. Hah. Hah. You're just hilarious. Now give me cheese, or pay the consequences."

She poked me in the ribs, which she knows drives me crazy. So I ran off with the pizza box, and by the time we'd collapsed giggling on the couch, everything was back to normal.

We ended up watching _The Breakfast Club, _and laughing through all the same old lines. I love the cheesy dance scene, and no matter how many times I watch it, I get warm fuzzies when Andrew falls for Allison. Sometimes, I think life should be like that.

Then again, that's an awful lot of drama to deal with all the time.

As I'd planned, Mom forgot all about French manicures. This was an extra relief, because I'd nervously peeked at my arms half-way during the movie. I sucked in my breath, before standing up as calmly as I could and rushing out of the room.

"Where are you going, Anna?" Mom had shouted, as I nearly ran the length of the downstairs hall.

"Just taking a bathroom break!" I hollered back, breathless with haste and panic.

"Well, do you want me to stop the movie?"

"No, I've seen it before. Be back in a minute!"

I hooked a right into the bathroom, and slammed the door behind me. Shutting the toilet lid, I sank down on it and gingerly pulled back my fuzzy plaid sleeves. Oh, no. No, no, no. I squeezed my eyes shot and thought of rainbows and sunshine. Then I looked again.

It didn't work. The lines were still darker.

For a moment, I cradled my head in my hands, trying to calm down and get a grip on myself. The chill of the bathroom snuck through my thick socks, mixing with my tension to make me shiver. Hugging myself, I huddled there and desperately tried to think.

I could go on as I had planned. I could ignore what was happening and hope that it would fix itself. Sometimes nice things like that happened. Sometimes, things just naturally righted themselves. However, at that point my practical side took back over. I couldn't depend on time alone to mend my issue. Doing that would only make it worse later on, if my situation continued going downhill. No, I'd better have something more solid planned for back-up.

I sat and wracked my brains for another five minutes, but nothing sparked an ingenious idea. If I didn't go back soon, Mom would notice how long my "minute" was taking, and if she found me like this, there wouldn't be any need for a plan, because I'd never again see the light of day anyway.

Quickly tugging my shirt sleeves back down, I stood in front of the sink and splashed cold water in my face, trying to shock myself out of my nervous funk. The smidge of mascara I'd put on this morning was smeared beneath my eyes, making my wide-eyed stare seem even more deranged, and my hair stuck out in every direction, using static electricity for its own evil purposes.

Urgh.

I had to pull myself together. It was time to go back, and maybe if I just let it simmer for a while I'd think of something genius. Maybe I should just—

_Rrriiiibut._

What the hey...?

_Rrriibut_. Something thumped in the bathtub. I jumped back, grabbing a hairbrush in defense against the psychotic boogeyman in the shower . But, I'd expect that man to be hissing or cackling or something, not…croaking. Like a frog.

Cautiously, prepared to dart back at any moment and go to full ninja-mode, I peered over the edge of the tub, searching for the noisemaker.

Sitting placidly in the base of the tub, a large, green frog stared back at me. It was really rather pretty, with bright green stripes down its back, interspersed with a darker shade. It must have made that thumping noise trying to get out of the shower. It wasn't jumping now, however. It was just sitting there, watching me.

Well. Better than the boogey man. The little thing probably came in from the cold. It got fairly chilly at night around here, and weren't frogs cold-blooded? Or maybe that was just snakes. Whatever. Either way, it couldn't stay in here. How had it even gotten in here in the first place?

I scooped the frog up in my hand, and held it firmly when it squirmed. I had to carry it back through the kitchen to get to the backdoor, and that brought me in view of the living room.

"What are you up to now?" Mom called, still seated in front of the paused movie.

"I found a frog in the bathroom. I'm just gonna stick it outside, and then we can start the movie up again."

"A frog? Poor thing must be cold. Put it somewhere where it can stay warm. And hurry up!"

I popped open the screen door, and deposited the frog into one of the overturned cardboard boxes left out for recycling. That way, he'd have some cover from the wind, but he could escape all on his own. The breeze sent goosebumps up my arms, making me clutch my flannel even closer. Winter was coming on fast.

I gave the frog one last glance before I started inside, and it was still looking at me. In fact, it almost looked like it was _glaring_ at me. Which was ridiculous, because frogs couldn't glare. Maybe I felt just a bit guilty. Still, my philosophy was that I'd try not to kill them outside, but the house was off-limits.

Doing a little chilly-dance, I hustled back inside and flopped onto the pillows beside Mom, yanking a fuzzy blanket over me. We finished the movie, cleaned up the pizza mess, and decided to hit the sack.

At about eleven, I head upstairs to get ready for bed. After I'd brushed my teeth and put on some anti-acne lotion, I shuffled into my room and pulled back the covers. It was only when I flipped off the light and climbed under the covers that I noticed the funny-looking person sitting on the chair at the end of my bed.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

With a gasp, I jumped back, which wasn't easy considering that I was sitting. The result was that my foot got caught in a sheet, and I flipped off the side of the bed, emitting a sound somewhere between a shriek and a yelp. My body thudded to the bedroom floor, the sound only slightly muffled by the thick carpet.

Once I was on the floor, I had absolutely no idea what to do. Hide under the bed, head for the stairs, pull out some amateur karate I'd seen Jackie Chan doing? While my panicked brain searched frantically for some option, I heard a weird rustling sound. Shooting a fearful look over my shoulder, I saw the strange thing staring at me over the foot of bed, and it was shaking. As I listened for a stunned second, I realized that the sound was more familiar than that. The thing was _laughing_ at me!

Somewhere under the rush of adrenaline, I felt anger rising. Holy bejeezus, had I not been through enough today? Now my problems had to follow me home, too? It was no wonder I'd freaked. Anyone would have freaked, if they'd had some frickety-fracking freaky-looking thing waiting and watching in their bedroom. And then the little beast had the gall to laugh about it!

Rather quickly past most of my fear, I yanked myself up off the floor, straightening my pajamas and puffing my hair out of my face. Unfortunately, right before I was going to pull out my crazy moves, I heard shuffling footsteps on the stairs outside of my room.

"Hey, Anna, what happened? I heard something fall over. Are you okay?"

I darted a glance at the pesky outsider, trying to figure out some way to hide it before my mother stuck her head in the door. She might be tired, but probably wasn't _that_ tired. However, the thing was nowhere in sight.

"Oh, I'm fine, Mom," I called back over my shoulder, going down on my knees to peer under the bed. "I just, umm, kicked the stupid dresser. I'm, You know, tired."

"Good grief, you must have kicked it pretty hard! Is your toe broken? Are we gonna need to head to the emergency room?"

I forced a laugh. "No, I'm alright. It's probably not fatal, so I'm going to bed."

"Well, alright. Sleep tight, sweetheart."

"I will. You too."

I listened to her slippers scuffing along the wooden passageway, and then her bedroom door clicked closed.

I took a moment for a brief sigh of relief, and then popped up from the floor to check the closet. However, that turned out to be unnecessary, as the thing was once again on the chair at the end of the bed. It didn't look at all worried, but just sat there serenely, staring at me with wise little eyes.

If it hadn't been such a bright shade of green, I might have missed it among all the stuffed animals. As it was, it seemed far too innocent to have scared me so badly.

It still hadn't done anything.

Cautiously, I eased down on the edge of my bed, prepared to leap back up at any sign of danger. The silence stretched out as we both sat there, until I couldn't stand it anymore.

"Hi?" I tentatively tried.

The thing seemed to consider me carefully, and then opened its serious mouth and spoke.

"Hello." Its voice was somewhere between a whisper and a scrape, reminding me of something, something terribly familiar but just off to the side of my tongue.

It wasn't laughing or anything anymore, but the voice did not sound threatening.

Now I was beginning to feel rather foolish. Here was this creature, about two feet tall, thin and innocent-looking, and then there was me, about five and half feet tall and quite capable of stepping on the intruder's head. Not that I wanted too. I couldn't squish a munchkin.

I hadn't been focusing very hard on my visitor for a few seconds, absorbed in my own musings. It shifted, and my attention immediately snapped back. And then I did a double-take. It, well, it wasn't so small anymore.

As I watched, it swelled up, growing to three feet, and four feet, and then more, until it filled the entire corner of my room. Its whispy hair grew longer and thicker, and began writhing about, like Medusa's head of snakes. My back hit something hard, and I realized I'd stumbled off my bed and reversed right up to the far wall.

"Squish me, will you? I don't quite think so." Its voice was no longer a whisper. Now it reminded me more of distant thunder, and the pressure of a brewing storm. Its presence alone filled the room, making the air itself feel charged and volatile.

"I have been…quite patient enough, I think." Despite its menacing appearance, the thing's tone of voice was not all that hostile. Mainly, it was irritated. And I really didn't want to irritate it at that point. "No one can claim I haven't been. I attempted to approach you in an friendly manner, but you ignored the obvious signs. Honestly, you ought to have figured out some things already."

I truly had no idea what was going on. Mainly, I was trying to pretend I was not there, and that I wasn't doing anything that could be construed as aggravating. Now, I might be the one who got squished.

It squinted at me, and apparently realized I was nearly quaking with nerves. Letting out a little whuff of breath, which carried a strange, musty smell, it calmed its wildly waving hair, and then diminished in size again until it was only slightly larger than an adult human.

"Sit down," it said.

I sat very carefully on my vanity chair, still pumped full with adrenaline.

"I don't intend to hurt you. From what I've heard, humans are rather delicate things. However, it is time that we had some discussion."

The wise look was back in its eyes, and I was suddenly struck by déjà vu with this scene. Wise, wise little eyes…Could it be? No, surely not, that would just be too weird. But still, I had to ask…

"Are...are you the rabbot?" I blurted out. Okay, that might seem like quite a jump of the imagination, but I was kind of numb to the impossibility of it all.

"And the fox. And the toad." The creature seemed pleased that I'd finally figured it out. It settled itself down onto a chair.

"Okay, um, I have to tell you that I barely believe a word of this. I'll go along with the conversation, because it's interesting." I said all of this very politely, but firmly nonetheless. Can't let the insanity get the upper hand. Right. "And second of all, you're the grumpy toad? Did you, did you actually _glare_ at me?"

"I've been doing a great deal to gain your attention. It was also very cold outside, and my amphibious form wasn't properly equipped for it. That would be one of the disadvantages to having to track you subtly. My habitual form is much more durable."

"And…you followed me home? Umm, why?"

"That is part of my purpose."

"What purpose?"

"You."

That silenced me for a minute, but only a minute.

"And, uh, why exactly am I so important?"

"That remains to be seen. A great deal of it hinges upon your choices, and what you do with your situation."

"My situation?"

"Yes, this current situation in which you find yourself. You surely don't mean to tell me that these…occurrences are common for you. Are you generally accosted by forest creatures?"

It had me there. Nothing about this day could be described as normal. Except maybe the toast I had for breakfast. That was kind of normal.

Cautiously, lest I anger the wise, powerful, green person, I posed the question that seemed to me to be the crux of it all.

"What exactly is this all supposed to mean to me?"

"It means that you are different. Obviously, everyone and everything is different, from the flowers in a meadow to the stars in the night sky. You, however, are more actively different than those things. You have a…connection…that affords you some rather special abilities, and some special tasks."

"Special abilities? Like, can I shoot lasers with my eyes or something like that? Because, if that's the case, this could be much more fun than I thou—"

"That is not quite what I meant. Your skills are likely to be much less flashy than the aforementioned laser vision."

The silence stretched, leaving me to fantasize about just what exactly I could do. I was one of those kids who was always more jealous of the X-Men than of Barbie. Getting to be Storm would be wicked. But, that really wasn't the important thing right then.

And I was beginning to take this all _way_ too seriously.

"So, in the spirit of seeing this conversation through, what am I supposed to do?"

The thing considered that for the moment, appearing to choose its words carefully. Its hair undulated serenely now, lulling me like water rushing over the smooth rocks in the stream. When finally it did speak, it was with great deliberation.

"Technically, there is nothing for you to _do_, besides continue living as you have. It will not be a conscious act, but instead one that comes naturally. The change is one thing that you will not have a choice about. In fact, I am nearly certain it has already begun. May I see your arms?"


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The question came so quickly that I let it hang in the air for a moment, looming. When I managed to process the words, I automatically wrapped my arms tight around my body, twisting my face into a scowl.

"Why?" I asked tensely. I'd gone from curious to defense-mode, in the space of a question.

It looked at me strangely, obviously nonplussed by my sudden change.

"If my suspicions are correct, the transformation will begin at your arms. That is what I was informed of, at any rate." Seeing that my frown didn't lessen, the creature sat still for a moment, apparently trying to figure me out. "What is the matter? A moment ago, you were almost excited about your coming talents."

"You didn't say I would _transform_. You said I would gain new skills, and above all you said they wouldn't be flashy!! What isn't flashy about spontaneous tattoos?!"

My voice had risen in volume until I was nearly shouting, the echoes reverberating through the quiet house. Both of us froze for a moment, waiting for someone to wake up and holler. Luckily, the silence remained unbroken.

"Honestly," the thing continued in a quieter tone of voice, "I supposed I never thought of it as an undesirable thing. After all, _I'm _not particularly hideous, now am I?"

That's when I started to black out. By the time I realized I was hyperventilating, my chest already ached with the pressure. As I frantically tried to suck in enough oxygen, a cool, sweet breeze swept through the room, cooling my fevered forehead and giving me enough distraction to get my breath under control again. I sat for a few seconds with my head near my knees.

"Tell me," _Please, please, just tell me this, _"that that's not what I'm turning into."

It was silent for a long moment, until it occurred to me that that probably wasn't the most tactful thing I could have said.

"Not, not that that's not cool, and all," I stammered "but I've been in one, uh, form for a long time. I kind of like my body. I'm not sure I want to get stuck with another one." _One that would get me put in a circus freakshow._

"Well, as I said before, you do not have a great deal of choice about this. But no, you will not be stuck."

"Normally," the creature continued "I am not visible at all. I am most comfortable that way. This is a form I use much less often, for you see…Human? Human, what is the matter now?"

In despair, I'd flopped backwards onto my bed, groaning in overload.

"Invisible?!" I said. "Green freaky thing? Just how many other forms do you have?" _How many more will I have? _

_What am I turning in to?_

"To be honest, they cover quite a wide range. I can take the form of anything living in these woods, like the rabbit and fox, or even plants. Obviously, I can take this semi-human tree form. I can be invisible. Really, I have never explored the outer reaches of this skill, but have utilized those which are most useful."

"Okay, things that live in these woods. Could that be…a human?" I prayed that the answer would be yes.

"Yes."

"Oh, thank all that is good and light. So, when this is all done, will I be able to, to turn back into this form?" After all, I would probably have to spend some time around _people _ on occasion, and that probably wouldn't work too well if I looked like something out of the Lord of the Rings...And oh, crap, I was acting as if this was all real again. Time to take a step back.

"Human, no two beings develop in exactly the same way. In most cases, the individual who is transformed can return to his or her original state, once the transformation and ensuing adaptation are completed."

Despite my doubts, I tried to look at the situation objectively, weighing the pros and cons. That was the only way I'd be able to deal with it, especially since my skepticism was now back in full-force. For a moment there, I'd been caught up in the moment, believing all manner of impossible things. I had to keep control of that. That was a one-way ticket to insanity.

"This is getting a little too personal," I muttered. The thing looked askance at me, not able to hear my latest statement. The thing. I really needed to figure out what to call it.

"Umm, what's your name? It gets really awkward just calling you 'the thing' in my head."

It looked a little miffed at that, perhaps peeved that I hadn't been more awed and respectful inside my mind.

"You may call me Avima, if it pleases you." It was frowning now, and it sounded snippy. I still didn't know a gender, but this probably wasn't the best time to ask.

"And as closely as you can understand, I am female," it added sourly. For the first time, it hit me that perhaps my thoughts weren't entirely private around her.

Disgruntled, I continued.

"Okay, Avima. I'm, uh, Annalynne. Ann or Anna for short, if you want."

"Very well, Annalynne." I grimaced at the formal name. "And now, I must return to the forest."

"Wait! What do you mean, you have to go now? You've just tossed my life upside-down! I have, you know, about a zillion questions!" Despite the late hour, I was wide awake, swept up in these impossible revelations.

"I'm aware of that. However, there's not much more I can do for you at the moment. Also, there is something which I need to look into. You will excuse me."

With what looked like a slight smile on her humanoid face, Avima fuzzed briefly, her lines waving and wafting until all I could see was a whispery disturbance in the air in the corner of my room. Then, a sudden wind rushed through the space, fluttering the papers stacked on my desk and rustling my hair around my face.

Avima was gone.

The next few weeks were some of the strangest weeks of my life. I absolutely could not relax. Nearly every time my mind began to drift or zone out, it would suddenly hit me again that I was spontaneously transforming into something from science fiction. It's pretty hard to find any internal peace when I'm just waiting for my body to sprout something freaky.

However, other times I'd go into a spasm of cynicism, diligently thinking of reasons why the whole thing was impossible and surely couldn't be happening. That generally lasted until I looked at my arms again. Solid evidence to the contrary, there.

I honestly can't say much about what happened outside of my head in that time period. Somehow, I went to school and survived, getting decent grades and remembering to feed myself occasionally. Sometimes people noticed the sudden change in me. The people close to me, at any rate. The rest of the world continued without a hitch.

"Hey, are you planning to eat that PB and J, or are you just going to stare it into submission?" quipped Aaron, making me jump out of my stupor. It was lunch time again, and we sat at the same old table that we always claimed.

"No, you can have it if you want it." I mumbled in reply.

"Nah, I'm okay. But what's up with you? Did you stay up too late last night?"

At Aaron's words, several heads around the table came up, looking at me inquisitively. I struggled to focus more on my surroundings.

"Yeah, yeah, I guess I need to get to bed earlier." I yawned theatrically, glad that he'd actually given me an excuse. More than I could say for my Mom.

"Well, then have you been staying up too late all week? You've been like this for days!" Aaron's voice was still playful, but underneath was a tinge of concern. Apparently I was even worse at hiding things than I thought.

"Oh, you know, it's been one of those weeks. I'm just feeling pretty out of it."

"Well, okay. Get some more sleep, or something."

Everyone went back to their food, holding little conversations among themselves. I reminded myself that food was kind of important to living, and picked up the peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It wasn't too bad, for school food, but I had a lot of other stuff on my mind.

When I got home after school, Mom hadn't come home from work yet. She works as the secretary at Dr. Tyler's office, though she likes to volunteer time at the library sometimes on the weekends.

I was kind of glad she wasn't home yet. Of all the people, she noticed changes in me the most. She'd already expressed concern about how tired I'd looked lately, and I wasn't anxious to fend off any more well-meaning questions. In fact, for a while it would probably be best to just keep some distance from her, at least until I figure some stuff out.

Shuffling into the kitchen, I grabbed some crackers and cheese and put them into a bowl, snagging my book as I passed the kitchen table. I headed up the familiar stairs, and spent some quality time with my book until the food was all gone. Then, I decided braiding my hair would be fun. That took about five minutes. So, out of things to do, I sat and pondered. _Isn't it a lovely day outside? The leaves are turning, and the air has that delicious smell it always gets. Too bad I have to wear this long-sleeved shirt. I could actually enjoy these last few days of sweet sunshine. Sweet. Like my chapstick. Do they actually put sugar in this chapstick? If so, shouldn't it actually be in the food section of the convenience store? And is the sugar for the wearer's enjoyment, or whoever is kissing the wearer? I'd probably have to ask a boy to find that out. But boys are kind of stupid. And necessary, darn them. Like certain boys that seem to be everywhere now! Absolutely everywhere! I'm not thinking of the boy all the time, I swear I'm not, but it seems like I can't turn around without seeing his smile, or catching his eye, or watching his back as he walks away. I just, I just want it to stop!! I do not obsess! And now I'm whining obsessively. This is so pathetic. And sad._

_Urggh._

I decided that was probably enough pondering for a while. I really couldn't put it off any longer, no matter how long I might want to. Or need to.

It had become a daily ritual, one that I both anticipated and dreaded. Either way, I couldn't help looking. I had to know, and no amount of distraction could put me permanently off. Every day, sometimes more than once, I had to look. So I did.

Slowly, I eased off my bed and ambled over to my vanity mirror. Once again, I took off most of my clothes, and hesitantly looked at my body. The original lines were still there, but even darker, and definitely more green. The leaf patterns were easy to see now. They had crawled over my shoulders, down my back, and were now reaching the tops of my legs. And I itched. I didn't know what that had to do with anything, but there it was. I itched no matter where I was, or what I was doing.

This all sounded so clinical, so dry in my head. Like how a science teacher sounds when describing the cell cycle. But it's not so calm, in a corner of my mind. No, no, it's certainly not. There's a part of me that's so scared, even if I'm doing pretty good at suppressing it.

But, I guess screaming wouldn't help anything, now would it?


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

When Mom got home from work, I was still upstairs, focusing on not being a total basket case. Results were minimal.

It might seem, from the dryness of this dialogue, that I was not all that upset about the things that might or might not be happening to me. It might seem like I was taking it all with a grain of salt, and just going with the flow. That is untrue. Somewhere in my mind, under the layer of disbelief and determined denial, I was shrieking and bouncing off of rubber walls. I just didn't let it get out too much, because if I did, I wouldn't ever be able to get it all back in. I had to control it. Had to.

I sat on my bed, staring out the window at the lowering sun. The familiar, comforting sounds of Mom cooking drifted up the stairs. Pots clanked, dishes rattled, the refrigerator door clunked open and shut. It all seemed so normal, while the rest of my world was anything but. I needed to focus on that, to hold on to that. So I went downstairs, though I didn't think I should.

Drifting in the kitchen door, I watched Mom as she worked, surrounded in steam one minute and chopping up greens the next. She bustled and whorled, using an economy of steps to complete an excess of tasks. Halfway through a turn, she caught sight of me out of the corner of her eye and stopped short.

"Hello, honey." She smiled big, but her eyes were wary. And concerned.

"Hi, Momma." I struggled to return the smile, but it just didn't have quite the same wattage.

We both stood for a minute, shuffling our feet and trying to think of something else to say. This was a new situation for us. We'd never had such awkwardness between us, except maybe when Dad left. But that was so long ago, it barely made a blip in our lives.

But now this issue had intruded, and though Momma didn't know what was going on, I could tell she knew it was something big. And oh, how I wanted to tell her. So, so badly. She could always make things better.

But not this time.

I gave up on trying to fill the silence, and just filled a chair instead. Mom kept cooking, but much more quietly. Neither one of us was good at just coming out and confronting a subject. We eased around it, hoping that with careful treatment, its reception would be less painful.

But it felt like my time was running out.

About ten minutes later, we sat down to a dinner of steaming lasagna and crisp salad. The sounds of the silverware tinking against the plates seemed magnified, permeating an otherwise still atmosphere. Even Bryan seemed to be catching the vibe, since he was actually eating his bits of noodles instead of throwing them and squealing.

The lack of sound was driving me nuts.

Usually, I'd yearn for the peace and quiet of solitude, thinking that in the tranquility, I could maybe catch up with the freaky twists in my mind. This silence was anything but peaceful, though. It was tense.

Finally, I faced up to the fact that I wasn't particularly hungry, set the dish into the sink, and headed up the stairs. Mom might have looked up when I left, but I sure didn't see it. Maybe she wasn't as intuitive as I'd thought.

About 9:00, I was stretched out on my stomach on top of my bed spread, sunk deep into a Dean Koontz novel. The hero was finally chasing down the misshapen lab monster, and could hardly breathe as he crept around the final corner. My stomach was tensed in sympathy, and I could almost see the beast's eyes when…Mom stuck her head in the door.

"Honey, could we maybe talk for a bit?"

I squeaked, all my nerve endings buzzing as I readjusted to reality. No monsters around corners, here, right? Nothing crazy that was coming to get me. Nope, they were always in my head.

What happens when they finally get out?

Mom had jumped when I did, slapping a hand to her heart with her eyes wide. She didn't say anything for a couple of seconds, and when she did she spoke in a whisper. Probably she'd already put Bryan to bed and didn't want to risk waking him back up.

Taking a deep breath, she started the conversation again.

"Can I bother you for a couple of minutes?'

"Sure." I whispered back, laying my book down and preparing myself. She settled onto the edge of the bed, perching as if prepared to fly away again.

"Have…have you been alright lately? You know I hate to pry, but you just seem, well, off. Like maybe something's wrong. Is it anything I can help with?"

Trying for nonchalance, I pulled myself to a sitting position and leaned against the wall.

"Oh, you know, I've just been pretty busy. Homework's been heavy, and I guess the stress has been getting to me a little. I'm sure it'll get better, and then I'll be able to get more sleep."

She looked like she wanted to leave it at that, like she would be relieved to leave it at that. But apparently she couldn't.

"I haven't seen you doing much homework at home," she said hesitantly. "Are you sure nothing else is bothering you? You know I'll listen, and I'll try to help."

"Yeah, Momma, I know. It's honestly nothing much. Maybe I just need more quiet time or something. You know, catch up with my body and all these hormones, or something."

"Well, alright…" She trailed off. "If you're sure."

"I am. Just give me a little time, okay?"

"Okay. I love you, Anna." She stood and leaned over to kiss me on the cheek.

"I love you, too, Momma. G'night."

"Good night."

As she left, I let out a sigh of relief that that hurdle had been passed. Hopefully now she would just chalk up my weirdness to teenage angst or something. Maybe I could just figure this whole mess out and she'd never have to know anything went wrong.

Only, something already had gone wrong, and I had no idea how to fix it.

The next day was one of those lovely late autumn times, the ones where the sun shines bright and warm, thawing frosty cheeks and noses. On those days, a girl could forget that winter was coming, with all of it's tedium, claustrophobia, and cold. I watched the rays while sitting in the school cafeteria, as they danced and shimmered through the high windows.

The mood was complacent and peaceful, but I was antsy. I had been all morning. At least, more than usual. The teachers' voices grated against my ears, the chatter of my fellow classmates raked across my skin, and loud noises tended to make my adrenaline level spike. Once, when a classmate had dropped their textbook, I'd whirled around, eyes wide and stance ready, and shouted, "What?!" I'd gotten a few weird looks after that.

I couldn't get comfortable in my clothes. I thought maybe Mom had dried my jeans in the dryer again, so that they were shrunk up tight against my skin.

I was handling the strange feeling as best I could, but I was no longer sure I would make it to the end of the day. I needed to be out, I needed to feel the wind fly through my hair and the sun warm my skin. I needed to be away from all these bloody people, and I needed it now!!

My lunch even irritated me. It was cardboard pizza again, and it just sat there and irritated me with its uselessness. I didn't want to eat it. Who would? Why on Earth had I bought this stinking piece of pizza that didn't even slightly whet my appetite? And why did everyone at the table have to talk so freaking loud? You'd think we were little children, incapable of controlling our voice levels. Shawna shrieked out a giggle, and I actually winced in pain.

Then, Nicole made the ultimate mistake. Mistaking my silence as a low mood, she turned to me and tried to bring me into the conversation.

"Yeah, Anna, what are you doing this weekend? We were thinking of getting together and having a movie night or something. You know, tons of chocolate, stupid make-overs, the works."

"I don't have time," I muttered. I supposed I might have growled it a bit. The silence lasted for a few seconds.

"Well, fine then. Nobody said you had to come." She looked hurt. "I mean, honestly, what has been up with you the last few weeks? You've been a royal bummer. You haven't talked, you haven't smiled, you haven't bothered to do much of anything! If you're not going to tell us what's the matter, don't lay the attitude on us!"

During her tirade, my tension grew. What started out as a little bubble of irritation grew into flush of anger, and then a hot torrent of something strong. Something more potent. Something I hadn't had a lot of experience with.

Rage. And with the rage, came power.

I still didn't say anything, trying desperately to quell the irrational emotion. Nicole was only being human, after all. I would have done the same in her place, though it didn't help that now everyone's attention was focused on me, and they were nodding in agreement. _They're just worried, _I told myself, _They're only acting like this because they care. Do not say anything. Do not open your mouth, because who knows what'll come out of it now._

The squeezing sensation was so strong now, like I was stuck in a body vise and slowly being crushed to the size of a pea. At the same time, there was a hard, hot ball of something in the middle of me, something like energy and adrenaline and power and crazy all mixed into one.

"Just…leave…me…alone," I managed to force out between gritted teeth. Something was happening, my skin itched like fire. I couldn't seem to breathe, or didn't want to.

"God. Whatever." Nicole spat, turning up her nose in indignation.

"Come on, Anna, grow up. Stop being such a jerk," Aaron chimed in, always willing to dig in once others had taken the first bite.

The hard, hot ball in my center contracted. Exploded.

And then the wind came.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Like a sudden tornado, wind came tearing into the room. All the doors to the cafeteria crashed opened, slamming into the walls behind them and any unfortunate person who was in the way. Food was scattered in the swirling blast, and trays were flung around with abandon. Girls and boys alike shrieked, their hair writhing in the wind, as they frantically looked around for the source of the sudden gale.

At our table, Aaron got a face-full of his would-be lunch. Nicole tried to grab her papers as they scattered in the rush of air, with her eyes open as wide as they'd go. Her mouth was gaping like a fish, gasping in fear and confusion. Shawna squealed in a high-pitched voice and covered her head with her arms, shielding her face from the flying debris. Daniel was the only one who did anything sensible. He ducked under the table, trying to yank the other people down with him too safety.

The cafeteria darkened suddenly, like a gigantic cloud had covered the building. Now the rushing, buffeting wind seemed like a mindless force, tugging and shoving and hitting all the people in the room. It did not let up, and it did not go away.

I simply sat there, surrounded by chaos, but feeling none of it. When that ball had exploded, something inside of me twisted. Shifted. Changed. I stopped breathing, not from fear or surprise, but simply because it no longer occurred to me that I should. No one seemed to notice my strange behavior other than Daniel, who was trying to pull me under the table, too. I didn't budge, though. I sat for measureless seconds, staring blindly as students and teachers alike panicked and rushed about, trying to fix something that made no sense to them. Then, I stood. I stood, and before I knew it, I was running. Even with the sudden darkness, I was surefooted, dodging around terrifed people and ducking beneath twirling lunch trays. I ran as hard as I could, and then I hit the double doors to the outside with all the mass I had. Light pierced the area as the doors swung open, and as I passed through something caught my eye, illuminated by a single ray of sun. Dusty blonde hair fluttered in all directions, and a pair of shocked, confused blue eyes stared into mine for a single second. Then the moment was past, and I was past, out the door and running so fast I couldn't feel my feet.

I plowed right into a forest of waving, green stalks, taller than my head and as thick as my forearm. The shock of it snapped me out of my stupor for a moment, yanking me to a halt. _What the…?_

This area had been a flat lawn of grass, studded with dandelions and the occasional harmless weed. Not anymore, however. Now it had been transformed into some alien jungle, right around my normal school. Behind me, I could hear students begin to move around, and the hum of their voices grew louder by the second. The freakish wind must have stopped, or at least lessened. I could go back inside now. There would be few questions asked if I did, lost as everyone was in the chaos. I could slip back in, and pretend this hadn't happened. I wanted to do that, so badly. Act like I was just another bewildered student, but completely able to recover from this and go on. However, somehow I couldn't make myself turn around and sneak back into the building. I had very little idea as to what had happened, but it wasn't normal. Furthermore, I had a rather strong suspicion that it had something to do with me. There were no answers back inside the building. I had to leave. Taking a deep breath, I dove into the strange plants, and fled.

It was struggle, bending around all the strange stalks. I expended quite a bit of energy for the small bit of ground I covered, and I could hear the school doors open somewhere behind, letting out the cacophonous chatter of shocked students. I tried to hurry faster, but wasn't making much leeway. Over my head, flashes of vivid yellow caught my eye, until finally I paused for a crucial moment to figure out what they were. It seemed that there were blooms at the tops of the green stalks, as large as giant sunflowers, but with a strangely fuzzy quality to them. They were all above me, as far as I could see. Something niggled at the back of my brain, something familiar about it all. But still, I hadn't gotten far enough away to stop and ponder it. I was so close, though. I could see the cool shade of the forest through the remaining few yards, and I had never wanted it more. At the edge of the woods, I looked back once more, and though I knew they were there, I couldn't see any people. I could hear them, but all I saw were those strange plant things. Like yellow puffballs on tough little stems. Almost like…_Could those really be…?_

They were almost like a field of giant dandelions. Now that it hit me, I was almost positive that that was what they were. But how on Earth had they grown so fast? And so big?

That really wasn't something I could deal with right now. At least it hampered any chance of people seeing and following me. So I turned, and ran until I couldn't see the school back through the trees.

So focused was I inside my head, trying to figure out what had happened, that I walked without any sense of direction. My only goal was to get far away from prying people, and once I set my feet on that path, I ignored my surroundings. Something terribly important had just happened. I was sure of it. Something that wouldn't change back by morning, or simply fade away. I no longer had that ball of…energy inside my chest, but it hadn't just gone away, either. After it exploded, it seemed to have spread to the rest of me, through my muscle, blood, and bone. I felt like I was almost vibrating with the power of it, buzzing so quickly that the action wasn't visible to the naked human eye.

I hoped it wouldn't last forever. It was invigorating now, but deep down, I was exhausted. It was like a caffeine high, and I was waiting for the crash. But I couldn't afford to crash yet.

As I wandered through the forest, gradually the trees began to change. They grew bigger, and older-looking somehow. Moss and lichen grew up and down their sides, casting a green haze over the deep, ridged bark. There were a few boulders, scattered around, wrapped in a mesh of vines. I continued to walk and think, walk and think, while half-way noticing the changes in the scenery, until the light began to dim under the trees. It was barely discernible at first, until I began to stumble over hidden tree roots and sticks. Then, I finally glanced up, and really looked. And that was when I realized that I was completely lost. With increasing worry, I whirled around, searching for a view of anything familiar between the trees. No buildings, cars, or people were anywhere in sight. Nothing seemed to move but me and the occasional wind-tossed branch. Far off in the distance, I could hear the chittering of birds, but there in my area there was nothing. Out of panic, I was about to pick a random direction and try to escape the forest which had so recently given me a haven, but a voice sounded behind me.

"Stop."

Instead of immediately heeding the voice, I twirled around again, adrenaline making my actions jerky and sharp.

For a moment, all I saw were more trees, trees and green-filtered light and not a human thing in sight. Then, as my eyes darted frantically around, a tree directly in front of me shimmered, and blurred at the edges. I squinted my eyes and rubbed them, thinking I must have something in my contact. Then the fuzziness resolved itself into a shape, a shape that was familiar but not entirely welcome.

"You can't run any further from this. There's nowhere to run _to._"

Though I hadn't known I was so scared, I surprised myself by shuddering out a sob.

"Wh-what's happening to me? Is this it? Is this what you were talking about?"

"You need to calm down. You're only making the change harder for yourself. Try to breathe deeply and calm…"

"I can't calm down!! This cannot be real!! This doesn't happen. Maybe it happens in stories, but it's not real life!"

Her eyes look almost sympathetic, which was quite a reach for her. Taking a deep breath, as if to lead by example, she tried again.

"Just breathe deeply, and everything will eventually resolve itself. Focus deep inside yourself, and try to find a center of calm so that—"

In two quick, furious strides, I was in her face.

"I don't want to be calm! I don't want to breathe deep!" My voice was low, but strong and desperate, shoving the words at her. "This is more than I can take. Something happened, something inside of me, it burst, and, and I don't know what happened. You're the only who does. And you're gonna give me some answers right now, or I'm going to freaking explode!" My voice raised in pitch during the tirade until I was shrieking, red-faced, and out of all the calm I might have had. Around me, the still trees began to thrash, at first in their highest limbs, and then down lower, around Avima and I. My hair lost all restraint and whipped around my head, blown out by the gale that was suddenly shrieking through the meadow. Avima, now fully in her tree-woman phase, simply stood there in the wind storm, her emerald eyes growing wider and wider as I shouted at her. Her long, vine-like hair writhed about as well, though with a coordination that spoke not of the wind, but of her growing agitation.

The wind was not the only disturbance, however. Underneath my feet, I felt something shifting, and growing larger. Finally taking a breath, I glanced down, only to see the grass beneath my feet stir for a moment, and then shoot up, to my ankles, to my calves, to my knees. Speechless, I gazed around me at all the sudden, furious activity. The moss on the trees sprouted long, like green beards on old-man oaks. Vines that had been quiescent snaked around tree trunks and branched off, completing an amount of growth in seconds that would normally have taken years.

As I watched, my anger slowly drained away, replaced with a dull sense of shock and, layered under it all, wonder. The sudden changes also slowed down, the wind turning into a gentle breeze and the plants losing frenetic speed until I could only see them tremble. In about five minutes time, all the action had calmed down to normal, and with my eyes as wide as full-grown sunflowers, I turned my head and stared at Avima. Her eyes, like mine, barely skimmed the top of the new, tall field of weeds around us, and also like mine, her eyes suddenly seemed too large for her face.

After a pause, she cleared her throat and spoke.

"Well." Her voice was rough with surprise. "Perhaps you're not so simple after all, human. Annalynne."


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

I'm not sure what I did, then. My last clear memory was Avima's face as I turned, panicked, and began thrashing my way back through my little home-made weed field. She had such a strange look on her face, one that I had never seen before, a mix of pity and frustration that barely even registered in my brain. But I was gone, gone, gone, out of that place and running, because I wasn't safe even there. I wasn't sure what I was running from, but somehow the uncertainty was more frightening than the actual situation.

So I ran, and ran hard, with gasps tearing out of my throat and tears running down my face as the wind dried out my eyes. Every step, I was inside my head, praying to whoever could help that this would all stop, and that I would be okay, and that I could go back to being Anna, just Anna, not Annalynne like Avima said it. I prayed, and held myself in with every ounce of my will, trying to stay in one piece. Before I knew I had covered the ground, I was dashing up the front steps of my house, my silent, empty, welcoming house where thankfully Momma wasn't home yet. Blindly bulling through the lower floor, I plowed up the stairs and streaked into my bedroom, slamming the door behind me. There.

I was staying in here. I would not go outside, I certainly wouldn't go to the woods, I would not go to school, I wasn't going _anywhere_ until this all went away. That was the way it was going to happen. No compromise.

That decided, I woodenly sat in my chair beside the window, displacing all the stuffed animals onto the floor. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glint of sunlight, and tree branches waving in the light breeze. No, no, NO!!

Looking out the window wouldn't help. I stood again, and stubbornly tucked myself into a corner on the floor, angled away from the windows, staring at the wall. I wasn't panicked, anymore. Now I was just plain angry. And that was so much better.

_This is stupid. This shouldn't happen to people. It's not fair, and I didn't ask for it. I'm human! I'm a teenager, a girl, and all I want is to make it out of high school in one piece. But instead I've got this crazy, stupid, freaking…THING.. I won't take it anymore. I have the will for that. I can get past this, by this, and I can go on. All I have to do is try hard enough. I have the will. _

As I stewed, I hit the wall in a repetitive manner, beating on it without hardly noticing, taking solace in the fact that I could hit something, anything, when I could not fight what was happening to me. After a time, my thoughts calmed into a sort of cyclic mumbling, repeating the mantra over and over again. _I have the will. All I have to do is try hard enough. I have the will…no one can force me. I have the will…_

My eyes drifted around, seeing the familiar parameters of my room like some new, alien land, all hard lines and unimaginative corners, with no life. No leaves waved out of the closet, no twisting vine crept in the carpet. There was no vitality here, no life, no green…S_top. I have the will. All I have to do is try…_

All was quiet and still, as the minutes ticked by. I sat as immobile as I could, back pressed to the wall, legs crossed. And then something twitched. And tickled. And then itched with a growing burn. Again, my eyes were drawn by a waving, writhing motion at the edge of my peripheral vision. My arm. Something…was…on my arm!!

Yanking back the sleeve, I stared in horror at what I found. The, the black viney things on my arm were _moving. _They were twisting and spiraling around the limb, like long strands of some sort of kelp, swaying in the ocean current. And they were growing again! I'd never actually seen it happen before, but like the plants in the meadow, such a short time ago, they were lengthening at an accelerated rate. And they were on MY ARM!!

I scrambled to my feet, falling against the wall before I managed to gain my balance. Then I dashed to the closet door, and unleashed a maelstrom of clothing. Tearing back through the shirts and sweaters, I came up with some scarves and hats that I rarely used, and then ran back to my vanity. Staring at my face, I tried to imagine how I would cover this. The horrible vines were actually creeping through my hairline. They must have grown all the way up from my shoulders through my hair, and now here they were, plain as day. No amount of make-up or costume would hide this. As quickly defeated as I'd been energized, I let the scarves fall from my lifeless hands, twisting and swirling in filmy swathes to the floor. Then, I folded my arms and lay my head down, letting the tears come, wrenching from my throat. I was so scared that I was nauseous, clutching one arm around my stomach then as I cried, so scared that I could feel the pressure inside my skull, like an approaching migraine.

As my face grew damp, it hit me for the final time. Like a ton of bricks, square in the chest. There was nowhere left to run to. I couldn't leave my own skin behind.

Forcing myself to breathe, deeply, as evenly as I could, I assessed the situation. My hiccups slowly subsided, and I glared in hatred at the horrible things on my arms, my face, my back, probably all of my body now. There was no running, anymore. This had happened. This was real. The only decision was what I would do now. My breathing quieted, until I sat still again, still as a statue, staring at the marks. And the vines slowed.

My heart leapt, and the flashflood of my relief started my pulse jumping again, though I dared not hope for more than a deceleration of the growth. But still, I couldn't help that stupid spark of joy, and as my blood poured faster, the black vines began to agitate again, coiling on my flesh. _Okay, so calm is the way to go_. I was at least learning something.

So, I kept calm, while pulling on a hoody over my shirt and jeans, leaving my hair down so that no more of the marks would be showing than was necessary. Avoiding the mirror, I crossed my room to the door, steadily stepped out, and shut it behind me. I kept the same confident, firm walk in place until I reached the woods. Avima stood, just inside the tree-line, blending into the shadows except for where her eyes caught the lingering light of the sun, glinting off of them with fiery life. When I reached her, she turned from where she might have been standing the entire time I was inside the house, and she drifted away into the woods without saying a single word. I followed soundlessly myself, dedicated to my path, though I had no idea where it would lead.

I followed her with no more questions, no more skepticism, no more useless scrabbling at reality. That was before. This was now, and now this was reality. With that final acceptance, I'd done something irrevocable. I'd crossed a line, deep inside myself, that could never be redrawn. I'd shattered the whole bloody barrier to pieces, and the world's brightest couldn't put those pieces back together again.

It seemed we had barely begun walking when things began to change around me. I was only marginally aware of them, but as things will, they changed nonetheless. The trees grew broader, taller, somehow older, until they looked like pillars of granite, lining some mossy hall leading who-knew-where. The springy, emerald moss itself seemed to exude an ancient air, though it was no less than vibrant and bright. Under the timeless feel, there was also such a strong sense of vitality, the dust motes themselves in the shafts of sunlight seemed to pulse with it. I found myself taking deep breaths, deeper than the amount of exercise required, sucking in the oxygen that tasted of something so strange.

Without my willing it, something inside of me lifted, just a little. I couldn't seem to help it, being in this place. Now the trees were so big that their lowest branches were three times my height. Squirrels and birds flitted about where I could see, apparently unimpressed by the grandeur in which they conducted their lives. Maybe they could forget the wonder of it, but I somehow doubted that I would ever not know this place again. Which was silly. It was just a bunch of old trees, after all. How could it possibly be so important to me? How could it seems so…familiar? I knew I'd never been so far into the forest before, even if I couldn't tell how far we'd actually been walking. I'd remember it if I'd ever been _here_.

Avima hadn't spoken since we'd entered the vast forest. From what I could see of her, she didn't appear angry, and her pace was calm and steady. Perhaps she was as awed in this place as I was, though surely it was well-known to her. She never hesitated during our journey, leading first down one verdant path, and then another, ducking beneath drooping branches and lightly stepping over tumbled stones with the ease of long familiarity.

The creatures in the wood around us weren't like anything I'd ever experienced, either. Yes, their physical forms were common enough, with the rotund, fidgeting chipmunk and the fluttering, dipping butterfly. However, they didn't seem startled at all when we approached them. Avima, they were probably accustomed to, but I was a human girl, and I was not accustomed to them continuing on with their lives even as I passed within scanty feet of them. Still, I didn't have time to hang around and see just how close I could approach. Avima continued on with a purpose, albeit an unhurried one.

Eventually, the trees grew to where I could barely even see their lower branches, and they spread out a great deal, needing much more room to stretch their mammoth limbs. I felt so tiny then, like the butterfly compared to my own body, small and infinitely fragile. I stepped out from behind Avima and began to wander on my own, keeping her in sight but exploring nooks and crannies around the trees, and skipping joyfully, though tentatively, through the wide open spaces.

Finally, for the first time in what seemed hours, Avima spoke to me.

"Annalynne. Come. We've arrived." Her voice stopped me in mid-twirl, making me stumble to one knee before I stood again and walked to her, more slowly. The gravity of her voice made me feel silly, like some small child caught at play while she was supposed to be studying. Blushing a little, I stopped at her side and followed her line of vision.

In the center of a clearing, lit in the muzzy glow of filtered sunlight, sat a small weeping willow, branches drifting softly in a light breeze. I glanced at Avima for guidance, and saw her face was suddenly glowing, bright and joyful, lit from somewhere within her. She looked more happy than I had ever seen her, and the new emotion turned her alien face into something different, something I found I could actually relate to. She took one step, then another, and suddenly ran towards the tree, literally flying as her feet left the forest floor and her green tresses streamed out behind her. She darted into the open space under the tree, and I could hear her whispering something in low tones, filled with affection and delight. It was a side of her that she'd never shown to me, and for the first time I felt like maybe she wasn't all discipline and solemnity. Then she peeked between the waving branches and beckoned to me. Hesitantly, I too approached the tree, and stepped through the sheltering fall of leaves.

I could barely distinguish Avima from the tree itself, she resembled it so much. The shade of green was the same, and they shared the same undulating limbs. It was beautiful, and seemed like the most natural place in the world for her.

"This," began Avima, with a deep passion in her voice, "this is my tree."

Okay, that seemed to fit with the moment, but I wasn't quite sure what she meant. Her tree? How exactly did one claim a tree?

"You will learn," she said, with a wisdom in her eyes that spoke directly to mine. "You will. And it will be...remarkable."


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

And it _was _remarkable_._ The place that Avima had taken me to was no ordinary portion of the forest. This section had been there since before Avima had come to be, and from what she hinted, that was a very, very long time ago. I could feel it in my bones, the history that was stored here, and the infinite knowledge. At first, I was so awestruck that I couldn't do much more than stare around me, and carefully explore the surrounding forest. Behind every boulder, around every tree trunk, lay little mysteries, multiple wonders, that completely occupied my mind.

Avima gave me some time to soak up the magic of the place, alone and unhindered. I spent a while wandering by myself, staring until my eyes got tired from looking so much. The trees themselves somehow spoke to me, when I laid a hand on their smooth bark. They had no words, no English, by which I could understand them. Instead, they spoke to me with sights and sounds, touches and emotions. I could never write onto paper what they said, but it still settled deep in my mind, and my heart, never to be eradicated.

I forgot all else in my joy in the woods, so that I was no longer Annalynne, no longer a teenage girl, but part of a vast, incomprehensible web of life. The forest accepted me like no one ever had before, and it felt so, so wonderful. My hair came down and snarled, catching on bushes and branches when I brushed through. My hands grew dirty and rough, used to scramble over rocks and scale trees. Still, I knew the place loved me, though nothing said a word. Unlike those in the human world, the trees never judged me for my appearance.

The only discomfort I suffered was the itching, burning sensation that remained wherever I was marked by the vine things. They continued to grow and broaden as I wandered, until they more closely resembled tree branches than the sapling fronds they'd been before. I did my best to ignore the changes that were happening, unwilling to let any of the strange alterations interrupt my sabbatical with the forest. In this manner, I took stubborn disregard to a whole new level.

Eventually, after much too short an amount of time had passed for me, Avima kindly, gently, brought me back into myself. I was sitting on a stone, my back up against an oak, listening to the whispers of the wind in the canopy, when she gracefully stepped around the tree trunk and stood directly in front of me.

"Anna." I didn't heed her at first, because my mind was elsewhere, soaring and blossoming in the lofty treetops. "Anna. Come back now. It's time to begin." I tried to ignore her. I was filled with such a sense of peace that even her mild interruption was unwelcome, invasive.

"Anna. We must begin. There is not enough time for this." Her tone was sympathetic, but her determination was clear.

Rapidly blinking my eyes, I forced them to focus on her, back near my physical body. Inwardly, my heart rebelled, yearning to stay alone and unhampered, oblivious of whatever issues she wished to address. But it would not do. She would not leave me be. This beautiful wonder could not come without a price.

"Wh—," I coughed, trying to wet a throat that had grown used to silence. "What do you want now?" My tone was terse and unwelcoming, reflecting the loss that I could feel coming.

"You are here for a purpose. This was no accident, my bringing you here. Time passes more slowly with the rest of the world, but still it goes, and you must begin to learn. Your part in events has only just begun." My face crumpled with frustration. "There is no use in self-pity, in this case. Something has happened to you, a wonderful, amazing, terrifying thing that happens to so few. Regardless of what you wish, that cannot be undone. You must learn, to discover what exactly your purpose is."

"Purpose. Destiny. My life sounds like a freaking fantasy novel."

"Stories are created with some basis in fact, in real life experiences. How else could such a narrow-minded species come up with so many?"

I ignored the jibe, trying desperately to keep hold of the tie I felt with the forest, with the life in it. I didn't want to lose it; it was so precious and beautiful. Why couldn't I just stay here, surrounded by the peaceful green? Why bother with the rest of the world, if it meant I had to lose this? After staring at me for a moment, Avima's eyes lit up with a sort of understanding. Once again, she seemed to read some of what was going on in my head.

"Lose? What were you planning on losing, young one? Why have you assumed this will end? I thought you were merely opposed to ending your time of solitude, not that you feared everything would go away! That's not the way it works. You have been chosen, you have been changed; there is no going back to the way things were before. However, that does not mean that everything has to be unpleasant now. There is good and bad to every situation."

I sat in stunned silence. Did she, did she really mean…I could always feel this way? That I could know the voice of the forest, deep in my soul, forever? Could something so wonderful really be true? At the thought, I couldn't hold back a giggle, and a wide, wide grin broke out on my face. Avima, seeing the look on my face, seemed to relax a little, and she let her face slide into a slight smile in return.

"Yes, you see? As unexpected a turn as your life has taken, you can still find happiness. You can still find peace, in measures. If you'd begun the change at a younger age, as is common, you could perhaps spend more time in this seclusion, but you did not. Now, we have a great deal of work to do."

I rose from my sitting position, self-consciously dusting off my clothes, as if my looks somehow connected with my rude behavior. I was so dirty from living wild that I couldn't really remember what it felt like to be clean, and my deeply-ingrained sense of civility was kicking back in for a second. How long had I been out here? I'd stopped counting the journeys the sun made across the sky early on, mired in my own sense of wonder at this place, and detachment from the rest of the world.

Oh no, what would my mother think?! I hadn't left a note, yet again! My gut churned at the thought. I'd been avoiding her for weeks, cutting her off from myself, and now I'd just up and disappeared! I cringed, thinking of the worry I knew that would put her through. She just cared so bloody much. And I couldn't seem to help hurting her. Agitated, I picked at the bits of bark and branches in my hair, twisting and pulling until I'd untangled a great deal of it. Maybe I should go back right now, and maybe it hadn't been as long as I thought it had, and maybe Mom wouldn't be worried at all, and maybe…

Avima didn't seem to notice, or care, about my appearance and anxiety. She gave me the same unfathomable, slightly resigned look which she usually used as I fidgeted, obviously waiting for me to get going. With an effort, I stopped myself. Right. I was here. I had decided, and dedicated myself to this course, after all. I couldn't help Mom now, but surely there was something I _could_ do here. These changes couldn't be for nothing. I had to do this. So, I shoved the part of me that was whispering frantic thoughts to the back of my brain again, and prepared to focus on what it was Avima thought we had to accomplish.

"You have been given a gift, Anna, whether or not you perceive it as such. However, this gift is not entirely free, nor is it easy to bear. As I said before, you have begun later in life than most, though you are certainly not the latest. Due to your lack of prior training, there is a great deal I must teach you, in a limited amount of time. You are no longer a creature entirely of the human world. You have altered, physically and mentally, and now there is a large piece of you that belongs to the forest. To the trees. To the life force therein. To continue on this path, you must accept that, and you must learn. You must learn about the life in this place, and how you connect with it, meld with it. It is vital that you know what you can do with it, and what it can do to you. I would like to give you a choice here, to ask you once more if you are sure that you wish to become a part of this. However," she grimaced at this "that is no longer truly an option. You are changing, and there is nothing that can halt that progression now. But this is not always the path I would choose, given the choice again." She seemed lost in memory for a moment, before continuing on.

"So," she said briskly, "the first step is this; you must complete the transition. You must become one of the Forest Intimate, the race of beings who do not merely love this place of green, but are actually an integral part of it. You have not seen any of them up to now, excepting myself, but once you have become, you will realize what an intrinsic piece they are of everything you see around you. You, too, will share in that fellowship. So. Let us do so. Now."

Her flowing speech had lulled my senses, smooth and eloquent as it was, and the abruptness of the change of pace startled me a bit. Let us do what? Change? Finish the change? With the branch marks on my body? Oh, oh no, I really was going to look like her! That was what this was about. That was what was she was going to do to me. They were going to take over my body, my face, my entire _self_, and, and…I looked down at my arms, really looked, for the first time since I'd immersed myself in the forest. They had not paused in their growth, and now my arms barely had any skin-colored patches left. How could I have not seen that happening? But the more I looked, the more intrigued I became. The strange things were really rather…beautiful, in their own way. The lines waved and fluttered, mirroring the actions of the canopy above my head, reminding me deep inside of the connection I had felt with the trees when I had forgotten all else, and how peaceful it had been. And then I looked at Avima, and just for a moment I let my prejudice slide. She wasn't hideous. She wasn't even ugly. Now that I had come to know the life in this place, I could see the same force in her, and that had its own appeal, even if it was not human. If that was what I was going to change into, if that was what was supposed to happen, then maybe, just maybe it wouldn't be all that bad. And hadn't she said I could change back, eventually?

"W-Will it hurt?"

Avima stared deep into my eyes for a moment.

"No."

"Then if I have to, let's do this. Let's finish it."

"Oh, young one, we have only begun." I looked straight back into her eyes, and far down in the depths of them I saw a strange light, a light that reminded me of the green, hazy glow of late afternoon in a sunlit meadow. I couldn't, or didn't want to, look away any longer. Avima lifted a finger that was as green as the underside of a new leaf, and then she ever so gently touched my forehead.


	11. Chapter 11

Well, at long, long, loooonnnggg last, here's an update. I also went back over and reposted the previous chapters, because I didn't like some of the wording before, so if you read the whole thing except for this chapter, you haven't missed anything. Enjoy!

**Chapter 11**

I wasn't even given a moment to gasp for breath. The rush was so intense, and so sudden, that I felt like a fish yanked from a quiet stream, and hurled into a maelstrom of sight and sound. I no longer had any control over my body; indeed, I really couldn't tell what my body _was _anymore. Then, the change was so riveting that it excluded all other awareness, to the point that I forgot about being Anna, about being Annalynne, about being nervous and excited and still deeply scared, until I merely existed in the space, the time that had been brought on by the mere tip of Avima's finger.

In front of my eyes, or my mind, or something, a brilliant river of color and light streamed by, twisting and shifting and changing until I almost grew dizzy from the beautiful movement. It was so bright, I would have blinked and closed my eyes, if the mind had eyelids. As it was, I just looked and looked, drinking it in, until it began to dim strangely. Lines of dark crisscrossed the sight; it was not a malevolent darkness, but more like the necessary darkness that succeeds the day. The lines grew closer and more distinct in front of me, rapidly morphing into a perfect replica of the lines that had marked my body. Leaves sprouted off of the dark lines, and they began to wind and spin around themselves. They wove a sort of net around me, and though I could not feel it in a material sense, it seemed like my very essence was being mummified in vines, wrapped and encased and almost smothered in active green. Just when I thought I might panic under the pressure, that this might be what dying was, the vines began to somehow integrate themselves into me, until they no longer constricted but instead became an intrinsic part of the whole. They sank further and further in, until they touched my core, my center, that indescribable seed of energy, and as soon as they touched it, it expanded. Exploded.

It was like before, at the school, only more so. Much, much bigger. The seed sprouted, shooting forth limbs of this pure energy, blossoming in all of my being until I couldn't feel anything but the humming, throbbing _power._ Gradually, I could begin to feel my body again, in pieces, though I didn't really register the presence of the familiar meadow. There were trees around me, but it wasn't the physical form that held my attention. It was the light, the _life_, the unbelievable force that lived inside of the trees and all the plants around me.

Eyes wide with awe, I stretched my arms over my head and breathed as deeply as I could, reveling in the feel of my lungs expanding, contracting, the pull of every nerve under my skin as I reached towards the sky, standing on my tiptoes. It was a sense of strength that I had only felt in my dreams before, those dreams where I was a bird, a superhero, anything other than simple and human, those dreams that hurt so much to lose in the morning. In those dreams, all it took was a thought, and then I'd be soaring across the sky, screaming through the air and clouds, more free than I'd ever been. Now, with Avima's gift, I felt that strength again, deeply familiar. So, I thought hard, willed what I wanted, and then I really _was _flying. The trees shot away to either side of me, the branches twisted back so as not to infringe on my flight. Up in the deep, deep blue sky, I paused and gazed down all around me, at the miles and miles of endless forest. I couldn't see any cities, but the brilliance of the spirits of the forest could have outshone any stretch of metal and concrete. There really wasn't even a word to describe the beauty of it.

As my eyes began to adjust to the splendor, I stared below me, looking for the clearing that I'd left. Far, far down in the woods, I could see a tiny figure blazing with power, which seemed to be staring back up at me. Avima.

Taking my time, I drifted back down to where she stood, seeing as much as I could in the limited time. Finally, I slowed to a stop at ground level, letting my feet rest on the forest floor. I took another cleansing breath before looking up to meet her eyes.

"Thank you," I said simply.

"Your welcome," she replied.

"Why didn't you come with me? Can you not do...that?" I had thought she said she had many different abilities, all the ones that I would get, and yet she'd stayed on the ground when she could have been flying towards the sky, too.

"I have seen it many, many times, and though it never grows less amazing, the first time is always the most potent. I wanted you to be able to have undiluted joy in your first true sight of the forest, and all the Forest Intimate." I smiled at her, as wide as I could, and she seemed pleased. However, I continued to glance around, at the woods, and sky, and the clearing, anywhere but down at myself. Avima watched me for a second, and then frowned.

"Anna, you have to look sometime. I promise, it is not as hideous as you might fear."

My heart clenched a little, realizing that she knew what I still didn't dare to find out. Grimacing, bracing, I finally steeled myself to look down, to see how my body had reflected the amazing changes that the rest of me had undergone.

It, honestly, was no worse than I had imagined, although that was certainly bad enough. No, not bad. Simply...strange.

My body had altered into a tree-like form like that which Avima had used when she first actually talked to me. However, there were a few obvious differences. Her form was loose and free-flowing, resembling the weeping willow to which she seemed so attached. I, too, had those vine-like appendages, in place of hair and dangling off of other parts of my body. However, I was a much darker color of green, like the forest shadows at twilight and my shape seemed more sturdy, less malleable. Where before I had had a normal human torso, now thick, woody vines wrapped around me in rigid, vaguely familiar patterns, almost like the bark off of a tree. The leaves were closer to the shape of a star than anything, and they covered my body like a skin-tight suit. All the vines on my body were less flexible than those on Avima, almost like they were tiny saplings or branches that were sprouting off of me. Yes, branches, like I was a living, breathing, stunned tree, but one of stronger stature than a weeping willow. Shifting and craning over my shoulder, I saw that the same thing had happened to the backside of me, though I still retained a vaguely human form underneath all the growth. Curious, I lifted one of the delicate leaves that adorned me, and was momentarily shocked by the sudden flash of color. The undersides of the leaves were vivid hues of orange and red, like the brightest leaves in the fall, flaring up at me.

Suddenly, I dashed to a nearby pool and stared into it, taking in my first full-length sight of my new self. A swift breeze swept down from the sky, lifting the leaves on my body so that I shone as brightly as a tree in autumn. For a second, I could not reconcile the new, wild image with what I had once been. Even my eyes seemed different, somehow more fey, more full of life, of energy. As I stared, and slowly ran my hands up and down my arms, it gradually settled into my mind that this truly _was _me. And as I grew accustomed to it, it occurred to me that I was not ugly or freakish at all. Indeed, my new form was beautiful, in an alien sort of way.

Though I took this all calmly, a weakened, distant part of me wondered how on earth I could do so. It really hadn't been that long ago that I'd been going to school, going home, doing homework, just like a normal teenager. Then, all _this _had happened. And somehow, crazily enough, I'd adapted. There's being a human, for you. Or whatever I was now.

So, keeping in mind my deep, endless sense of calm, just in case I was merely in shock, I turned back to Avima and said, "Alright. What do I do next?" Calm. I am calm, at peace inside. Don't think too hard. Just do. Do what you're here for.

She seemed surprised by my peaceful demeanor, but didn't question it.

"Now I finally can teach you all that you need to learn. Some things I will teach you by voice, and others I will merely be able to show you, as there is no way to describe the action sufficiently. It will not be easy, but it will not last forever."

She was still treating me like the human I had been. Impatient, always eager to move on to the next thing and anxious if that didn't happen fast enough. She would have to learn, too.

"I'm ready."

She stared at me for another second, judging, and then seemed to decide that it would have to do.

Let me say, if they taught me in human school the way that Avima taught me during our time in the forest, I might have been a little more inclined to learn. Of course, they would have tried to teach me Calculus and grammar, and all those things just tended to pale in light of what Avima had to show me. There were no textbooks for this knowledge she wanted to impart. There never could be.

"The first thing you have to learn is not actually about the forest and what you do here. Instead, it is more of learning to take a step backward, to where you might be if you'd not lived so long as a human before changing. You have had years and years to ingrain yourself with the need to communicate. Or rather, with the need to speak aloud." Avima lifted her eyebrows in a condescending manner.

"Your human words are all very fine for connecting in a shallow, simple way. However, to continue at any rate in your learning with me, you must go back to a different way. There is a time, at birth, where even humans have a different way of communicating. Words, spoken through the mouth, are not necessary at that point. Though many don't realize it, human infants _can _communicate with their parents without words, and not just in the grunts and shrieks that so seem to characterize human young. There is a sort of, well, I believe you would call it telepathy, that is used in lieu of the standard speech. Humans are trained out of this at as young an age as possible, and then gradually forget that they ever had the ability at all."

We were sitting near a good-sized stream, leaning back on moss-covered stones and letting the light sunshine warm our bodies. However, the mood itself was not nearly as relaxed. Avima managed to impart a sense of urgency into everything she said, which both energized me to learn and also wore down on me a little. However, I was determined to show how dedicated I was to my path, so she would have as little opportunity as possible to chastize my lingering human characteristics. At that point, I felt there was very few things I wouldn't do to keep this connection with the forest, and expand it.

"This is something you must undo. You have that ability deep inside you, ingrained, but we must work to bring it back into the open. Only then will I be able to impart all the knowledge that cannot be put into words. Fortunately, because you were born with this ability, it should not be terribly difficult to regain the skill."

While she spoke, I was searching back, as far back in my memory as I could, seeking that hidden skill she spoke of. I honestly couldn't remember ever having any sort of telepathy, though the idea struck me as more of a possibility that it might have even a short month ago. Had there been a time, before my ability to recall, when I'd been able to do that? Avima had been right about so much else, it seemed silly not to put my trust in her now. I shifted my body to work out the kinks, and then noticed she was staring at me.

"Are you paying attention?"

"Yes, yes, I was just trying to remember being able to, you know, speak with my mind. I figured it might be easier if I could at least have a memory of it, but I don't."

"That is not surprising. As I said, you will have gradually forgotten the ability over time as you learned to speak with your mouth. However, now we must begin to retrieve it, so quit thinking so hard and focus on me."

I turned, training my eyes willingly on her face, actually looking forward to this new change. The strangeness of the whole situation registered so little with me anymore.

Her eyes were intense, a deep, deep emerald green, and the black pupil in the center seemed to be trying to pierce into my head. I sat patiently, trustingly, waiting for her to do whatever it was she had to do. The sounds of various insects buzzing around the clearing seemed to intensify as we grew silent, though only a few birds chirped in the late afternoon warmth. Avima still didn't move or change, but just sat staring, until I almost wanted to fidget. The buzzing of the insects grew even louder, punctuated by climbs and falls in volume, almost like a cadence. It sounded vaguely familiar, and I forgot about Avima's eyes while I tried to place the strange feeling of deja vú. The locusts in the trees were so loud I could hardly even concentrate anymore, they were scrambling my thoughts, I couldn't place the _sound_...Avima's hands clenched in her lap, and the slight movement brought my attention back out of my head and onto her face. The strain on it surprised me, so at odds with the relatively peaceful feel of the forest, and I believe that if she had been capable of sweating, she would have been. Whatever she was doing, it was not easy.

But I didn't feel any change. The only thing that seemed to be affecting me was the sound of those insects, buzzing so loud now that I couldn't hear my own breath, and it became ever harder to sit still and focus. The noise grated on my nerves, and seemed to put a strange pressure on my head, digging at it and making it begin to ache. I grimaced and started to shake my head to dislodge the feeling, but Avima made a sharp negating gesture with her right hand, and I froze again. If it was possible, her eyes grew even more intense, until I felt like _she _was drilling inside my head, making it hurt. The pressure grew and grew, and I couldn't move or cradle my head in my hands to make it stop, because Avima did not want me to move, and Avima was usually right, but now my head really HURT, and if this took much longer I was going to have to move, to get away from that grating noise that the insects were making, and it was just getting too strong, what was going on, that really hurt!!

--Hello, Annalynne--

Well, now she was talking again, and I'd sat here being so patient with my headache when she wasn't even going to accomplish anything. That was just great. Now that that hadn't worked what were we going to do?

And with a muffled pop, the pain was gone from my head.

--That's better, isn't it?--

I refocused on Avima again, and saw she was smiling slightly, tired but apparently pleased with something.

"Yes, the pain is gone, but what are we going to do--"

It was only then that it occurred to me that her lips had not moved.

--I told you you'd remember how.--

It took me a few seconds to understand just exactly what she meant. And then, partly out of curiosity and partly out of instinct, I directed my attention to Avima and thought as hard as I could.

--Is this how it works?--

She winced, rubbing her own head as if she was getting a headache, too.

--Would you mind not yelling?-- she grumbled.

"Oh, sor--" I cut myself off.

--Oh, sorry.--

--That's better.-- She looked weary again.

--Umm, why didn't I have to do anything?-- This mode of communication became easier and easier as I used it, like something I'd always been able to do. Which, according to Avima, I had.

--You forgot how to do it such a long time ago, there wasn't really anyway you_ could _help. I'm sorry about the pain it caused, but I had to force you rather quickly back into a different habit. And as fascinating as this all is, I need to rest. There will be no more teaching today.--"

With that, she lowered her eyelids and drifted back towards the nearest tree, fuzzing and changing until she seemed to blend with it's textured bark. Within seconds, I could barely make out where the tree ended and Avima began.

Of course, she needed the rest. But that left me all alone, by myself in my head with no one to talk to.


	12. Chapter 12

Wow, I updated fast

Wow, I updated fast! That would mainly be because I'm bound to the house by my sprained ankle. I can't promise they'll all be this quick, but I can wish that they would.

Chapter 12

In time, I drifted off, too, lulled by the hazy sunshine and the (now soothing) sounds of the forest. It seemed sometimes that with all the mind-blowing things that were happening to me, time should be warped too, or at least my natural reactions to it. But, despite all the changes and adaptations, I still had to sleep and eat, refuel my body to prepare it for the next astonishing thing. Sometimes, that didn't seem quite fair, but I wasn't given much choice about it.

When Avima woke again, we practiced with the speech, starting first with only a few sentences in mind speech at a time, because I found that the headache would quickly return if I pushed it too hard. Over time, however, it grew easier and easier, until we began to experiment with things like distance and obstacles, testing my ability from feet and then miles away, and then through objects and mediums like trees and water. Versatile as the skill was, I still had to make many adjustments for all the different situations, like concentrating ever harder the farther away Avima got, and squelching the panic that came from trying to breathe underwater and mind speak with Avima at the same time.

Yes, breathe underwater. That was another skill Avima had to coax me through, made even more difficult by the fact that I had no previous skill with it.

There wasn't much preparation she could give me for that one. I did my best to stay down on my own, to trust that it should come fairly easily, if not naturally. To trust that Avima wouldn't want me to drown. After several panicked splutterings to the surface, Avima had to hold me firmly underwater, mind-speaking with me to soothe the transition, mind-shouting to be heard over my terrified bubbling. When I finally did dare try to breathe in, I choked on the water, but Avima would not let me back up. That was when I lashed out so violently that I snapped one of her long vine-like tendrils. Even then, she did not let go.

Eventually, I found that I could somehow take in the necessary air through my skin, as if I was covered with millions of mouth pores that did the breathing. When I was finally able to calmly tell Avima to let me up! in my mind, she released me. I collapsed, exhausted, by the side of the pool as she tended to her injury.

As soon as I could, I darted over to her, anxious at the pain I'd caused her.

"Oh, Avima, I'm so sorry! I didn't mea--"

--Annalynne!-- Oh, crap.

--Sorry, again, Avima. Can I do anything to help? Does it hurt too much? Oh, you're-you're bleeding!" A sap-like substance was dripping out of the end of the tendril, falling sluggishly to the ground.

--It does hurt, but not so greatly that you need feel such guilt. After all, I am in a plant-like state, and plants tend to lose bits of themselves fairly regularly, though not often so suddenly. Furthermore, I should have expected your reaction. Once you've lived so many years, you tend to forget what it feels like to be assailed with so many new changes.--

She looked up then, seeming to assess me. Apparently, what she found was to her satisfaction.

--I think that, rather than trade further assurances and apologies, this opportunity should be used to instruct you further. I hadn't planned on teaching this so soon to you, but time rushes on around us, and we must rush with it.--

I found it difficult to think of time passing, in this place. Though I saw the progress of the sun and moon, I was so focused in all I had to learn here that it didn't really register with me. How many days had gone, now? How long had I been away from home? Was I truly away from home?

--What I will now teach you is one of the most important things that you must master. With it, you will truly grow towards becoming a mature Forest Intimate, and achieving all that you have in store for you.--

She gently lifted the shortened tendril, and lifted it close to me. With one delicate finger, she touched the tip that still oozed. Her face did not change at all, but I could almost sense her intensity, as she focused all of her mind on the sad plant in her hand. She trailed her finger back and forth over the small area, and as she did, a green sort of fog twisted from her finger, layering onto the wound, but remaining transparent enough that I could see what happened underneath it.

Slowly, so slowly that I almost missed it, a new, healthy-looking layer covered the tip of the tendril, till the trickle coming from it abated. After what seemed hours, Avima lifted her finger, ceasing the flow of the fog, and lifted the tendril for me to see. It looked as healthy as before, despite its shortness. I took in a deep breath, the excitement building in my chest as I accepted what she'd done.

--I will teach you,--she said, her eyes not blinking, --to heal.--

I wanted to start immediately, and Avima didn't even chide my excess of human impatience. I had been stunned enough to learn that I could fly, and breathe underwater, and speak with my mind, but this ability to heal was different. All of my other abilities could be used to help me, and they were amazing if that was all the more I thought of them. But this, this was something I could share, something that I could help with. I hadn't realized how useless I'd felt, both in this time with Avima and before, in my solely human existence. I'd not held a job during the school year, since Mom thought I should be spending my time focusing on my schoolwork, which, as she said, was a full-time job in and of itself. With a town as small as ours, there'd been few opportunities for charity work, beyond raising money for things like the football team's new jerseys, which just didn't trip my trigger. I did nice things for people when I could, but a lot of the time it seemed like people got on just as well without my assistance. But now, now I could do something. I couldn't wait to begin. Would I just be able to heal plants, or could I help animals as well? Did humans count? Would it be hard, or would it come as eas--

--If you would focus on me, we actually can begin, Annalynne.--

I blushed, something I hadn't done for a long time with Avima.

--I'm focused, really, I am. I'm just excited to actually learn something that I can use for someone else, not just for me.--

--I understand. However, what you have not realized yet is that your newfound skills will come in useful in the future, and in ways that affect every living thing.--

--But, how, Avima? I still don't understand why I'm learning all these things. Don't misunderstand, I am truly grateful for all the effort you're putting into me. I just don't understand why.--

--I know, Annalynne. You need to trust me when I say that this is something you will learn of with time. You will know, but only once you're truly ready. Now, honestly, we should attend to the lesson at hand.--

I shut up then, since she'd already been more patient than I'd expected.

--First of all, do you remember when you first transformed? Do you recall a..well, a river of color?-- How could I forget that?

--Yes, I remember. First the color just flowed all around me, but then the, the vines wrapped it up, until I couldn't see it anymore.--

--That was the power, the energy, the life essence, if you will, of this world you've entered. The vines in the image were your natural defense against such a sudden rush of essence, for even though it is naturally in you, the sheer quantity can be too overwhelming at first. It is that you will use to heal. You see, this essence is in every living thing, and thus nothing rejects its influence. Parents impart it to their offspring, for example, and animals ingest it from their particular food source.--

--If everything has it, then why doesn't everything automatically heal itself?--

--First of all, not everything is meant to heal. Sometimes wounds are too grievous, or life has simply run its course. Also, few beings have the life essence in such abundance as you and I, and the other Forest Intimates. That is why we are the caregivers of the forest.--

--Alright, then. What do I do?--

--First, you must re-establish the deeper connection between you and the life force you contain. When you defended yourself against it, you also greatly cut off your ability to use it. Now, close your eyes. It will be easier that way, with fewer distractions--

I did so.

--Now, I want you to imagine your skin. That is where the vines first appeared, and that is what they sank into to create the form you now have.--

I pictured my arms in my mind's eye, the place I'd most often seen the marks of the forest. As I focused harder, it seemed like the skin became more transparent, though not completely invisible. That would have been disconcerting.

Deeper under, past that first layer but so thick that I could see no farther, were the markings I'd seen on my body. They were thickly intertwined now, so that I couldn't see anything but the dark green twists of them.

--Now,-- said Avima gently, --you must loosen their grip. They are too tight to let the essence through.--

--How exactly am I supposed to do that?-- I said distractedly, focused on the strange x-ray vision I was using.

--This will be mental as much as physical. You need to find the root of them, the beginning, and encourage it to relax. However, you must also let go of any reservations about the essence. It will not hurt you, now that you have had time to grow used to its existence. The most overwhelming factor of it is its unexpectedness.--

I was so excited about the prospect of being able to heal, I didn't think I could possibly hesitate in grasping the opportunity. Eagerly, I let my vision follow the vines back towards their beginning, which, unsurprisingly, centered in my head. I forced myself to relax, and concentrated on that spot, willing it to let go, just a little, to let the essence through. It wasn't as difficult as I'd imagined, but as I felt the vines slacken, I caught a glimpse of the color underneath. It rushed at me, and with a gasp the vines snapped tight again. Avima said nothing, patiently letting me finish the process in my own time.

Stubbornly, I let the tendrils relax again, more prepared now for the intensity. This time, as much as a part of me wanted to close it off, I let it flow free, until rivers of the color undulated around me. As I got used to it, the power was less and less intimidating, until it began to feel natural, and then, wonderful. If I'd thought the initial flood released by my transformation was amazing, it was nothing compared to this.

--Oh, Avima. It's so beautiful.--

--Yes, it is. All life is beautiful, though not as strong as it once was.--

I barely registered her words, in the midst of my reverie. I looked around me, searching for something to do with this rediscovered essence. The plants populating the meadow, and the animals flitting around them, appeared healthy to my sight. All of the colors were vibrant and pure. One spot of darkness caught my eye, however. The severed piece of Avima.

Excited, I sent out a stream of essence without thought, letting it flow into the piece until it nearly throbbed with all the energy. I was going to heal it, to make it better, to fix what I'd broken! This was just so unbelievable, so fantastic, and I was the one doing it...

--Annalynne, no.--

I had been so focused that Avima's voice startled me, breaking my hold on the energy. As I looked, the broken tendril dimmed and grew dark again. I wanted to cry.

--What? Why not? I was going to heal it, and maybe it would grow again and be beautiful. Why not?--

--You now have the power to heal. However, that doesn't always mean that you should. That piece is dead now, gone, and should not be brought be back. Everything has its own time, and that one's time is over.--

At that, I did cry. The sense of loss was almost as great as the rush of energy had been. Avima said nothing as I sobbed, letting me deal with it the only way that I could. Eventually, my weeping subsided, and I laid down on the ground next to the severed vine, staring at it until my eyes drifted closed.


	13. Chapter 13

Yay

Yay! It didn't take me a year to update! I am so awesome! Okay, enough about me. Yay for my great fans! You may be few, but you are definitely appreciated. Thanks so much to Backroads, FaylinnNorse, and teardrop456. I hope this one had enough action, teardrop, cause it was…interesting…to write. It's amazing how a story can grab you.

Chapter 13

I tossed in my sleep; my body twisted anxiously, but somehow I couldn't wake up. Someone was dying, someone was hurting so very badly, and there wasn't a single thing I could do to help. All this training, all this learning, and I still had nothing to give. I'd dreamed for a moment that I could stop it, could stop the death, but I couldn't. No one could. The screaming was filling me up, till there was no place left for my thoughts, my mind, for me. There was only that drenching sense of failure, or irreparable loss. Please, just stop. Stop hurting. But they wouldn't.

And it was all too familiar.

Sitting up with a gasp, I choked back the whimpers that wanted to rise. My skull pounded with the force of the pain. I cradled my head in my hands, waiting for the dream to abate, to drain away and leave me some momentary quiet. But it didn't. My mind might split apart from the tension, but the stress wouldn't drain away.

"Annalynne? Annalynne? What is the matter now?" Avima spoke as gently as she could, which almost sounded false when she was so often curt. I could sense the impatience seeping through. Time was going on, and running short. Maybe she had sat there beside me while I slept, just waiting for me to drag myself out and go again.

"Annalynne?" she murmured again. "Come, you must overcome this. Yes, your realization struck deep, perhaps painfully so, but it was also unavoidable. You must accept the fact that despite all the powers you've attained, you will never be a god, or you will never progress to the point you must reach. Annalynne? Are you listening to me?"

"Yes." I snapped it, still trying to keep my skull together. Could she not hear them, shrieking in the silence? What was happening? "My head...hurts."

"You have been under a great deal of stress lately; a headache is quite understandable. However, it will fade, and we need to begin for the day. Time--"

"Yes, I know! Time is running short! Destiny descends upon us like a howling mob! I must learn to use the force, oh wise Jedi Master!" My sarcasm was completely lost on her, of course.

Just let me breathe for a moment. Let me...come to grips with this. Maybe if I rested a little longer my head would stop pounding so hard, maybe the dream would fade away...but the intensity of the attack on my brain only increased. I gritted my teeth so hard that I could feel them creaking, but that didn't stop the tears leaking from my eyes. Somewhere, behind all of the pain, a part of me was mortified at having cried in front of Avima, who was always so strong. So strong that she couldn't possibly understand how much it hurt, knowing that despite all the superhero-like powers I gained, I could not stop death. Everything else but this seem muddled, buried in mist. The knowledge seemed to burn into me, making me cringe in the face of my inadequacy.

Through the haze, I vaguely noticed Avima's head dart up, her eyes scanning the surrounding trees. Her eyes lost any sympathy they had, turning hard as a fossilized oak.

"Annalynne?" she asked once again, but this time her voice hummed with energy, a powerful energy. A frightened energy.

"Do...do you feel that?"

She could feel it, too? Despite what I'd desperately told myself, the pain was not going away, the terrible fear and panic would not calm. A small voice in my head whispered, saying that this was not a new situation, that I'd dealt with something like this before, but it took me a while to place it. I just couldn't focus through the combination of pain and guilty sadness. I had hurt Avima, I had broken something that I couldn't fix even with everything I'd learned, and I ached with the knowing. Finally, however, a memory did come clear.

Sheer panic, blind and inescapable. I could feel cool stone behind my arched back, but also the warm prickle of thorny vines, the piercing pain as I struggled to escape. Looking down, seeing the trap I was in, seeing the rose tendrils snared around my paws...

The forest. The fear. The rabbit.

The fierce desperation I'd felt from it then was terribly similar to what was happening now, except that now it was so much stronger. I didn't think I could stand without just falling down again. Not on these legs.

I looked down at my legs, and was horrified to see the skin bubbling, bright red and shiny. At the same time, my bark burned and charred into ash, drifting from my body in the wind from the blaze that I knew was eating me. I could feel my hair singe and my eyes dry out as a tremendous wave of heat engulfed me, so heavily that I couldn't breathe. Twisting up from the ground, I looked for the nearest body of water, desperate to cool the burning that overwhelmed me. As I stumbled off, Avima grabbed my arm and spun me around.

"This is not the time to run away, Annalynne! What do you feel?"

"It burns," I cried, past being ashamed. "It's all over me, my skin, I have to put it out, it hurts too much!" I tried to yank away from her, but she held tight.

"NO! You are not burning. Look at yourself! Nothing is happening to you!"

I looked at the arm she held, and for a moment it looked healthy and fine, but then all I could see was blackened skin, with more starting to smoke and redden. Why couldn't she see this?! Why...But then I remembered again. The rabbit. The panic. My leg, caught and trapped, jabbed by fierce thorns. No, not mine. Not my leg. Someone else's legs, someone else's skin, blistered and burning. More easily than I'd imagined possible, the horror drained into a section of my brain, just like last time. Only one, vital message was left clear. West.

Wind roared past my ears, and branches whipped past me before I even realized what I'd done. I streaked above the treetops, desperately staring for the chaos, but it wasn't hard to find. Black smoke roiled up into the sky, tainting the sky an unhealthy gray. Not daring to wait for Avima and her time-wasting questions, I darted away across the sky.

As I grew nearer to the devastation, the pain and panic in a corner of my mind increased as well, pushing me faster forward and making me gasp, as the burning sensation washed over me again.

I dove in without hesitation, forgetting fear in my desperation to stop the screaming, and the pain.

All I could see was smoke, dark as pitch, but all I could feel was fire.

The sense of death roiled into me, leaving me standing paralyzed for endless seconds. I stood in a clearing of blackened destruction, all the life as dark as that in the piece of Avima that I'd snapped off. Streams of fire fanned through the trees on the outer rim, and it was the trees I could feel dying in my head, the beautiful life draining out of them as quickly as it had out of the others. The trees were screaming, and something else. Someone else.

I didn't know what to do. The sheer power of the fire was overwhelming, ferocious and hungry, and I could hardly even handle my horror at the lives that had already been lost. My outer layer of leaves began to brown and shrivel in the suffocating heat, but that could only be a taste of what my trees...my trees...were feeling. The panic that I hadn't allowed for the last few minutes begin to rise again, threatenting to choke me, but every second lost was crucial and irretrievable. I couldn't waste anymore time being so weak. Desperately, I did the only thing that I could think of. I grabbed hold of the life essence within me, and hurled it at the little section of flames in my view. I don't know what I expected to do, but I would die rather than do nothing.

There was just so much I didn't know.

At first, nothing changed. As my essence flew through the burning branches, the flames barely paused in their chaotic massacre, and all I could feel was more death. I wanted to cry, but the billowing heat dried the tears before they could even leave my eyes. I couldn't stand it again, I could not stand it, if I had to stand still again while the life flowed away. But I had no idea of what else I could do.

Suddenly, a film of green flooded into view. For a moment, my heart leaped as I imagined I'd given the trees some ability to fight back, before I realized that the green wasn't leaves, but vines. Vines, from back behind the burn line, flooding from the forest floor and snaking up the burning trees, suffocating lines of fire, encasing sweltering orange and red in vibrant green. I could feel the new pain from the vines as they were scorched, but it wasn't as strong as the death. They were so many, and so strong, that it couldn't kill them. They would heal. I would heal.

The flames glowed through the spaces between vines, but I pushed more essence at the vines, and the holes disappeared until there was no fire left. Relief rose in me, but was just as quickly swallowed by hopelessness. Yes, I had put out the fire. On one, single tree. One, solitary tree, and I could already feel a little of the drain on my power. How would I ever save them all?

But I couldn't afford to pause and doubt. Fiercely, I gathered more and more of the life essence and sent it to the next tree, and the next. Saving one tree at a time was the only thing I could do.

Suddenly, behind me I felt life flare up, where before I'd only felt the wall of encroaching death. I spared a glance over my shoulder, and my heart lept at the sight. More vines were twining around the trees there, vines that I hadn't infused with power. I didn't know how I'd managed to do that, but I wasn't going to stand around and question it. With a little more hope in my heart, I turned to my next tree, but as I worked to save it something appeared in the corner of my eye. Something living, glowing with power. I stiffened in shock, before recognizing the determined presence. Avima. And then, all around me, I felt powerful bursts of life, shooting into the trees and helping me. It was more power than I'd ever felt concentrated in one place, and for the first moment since I'd entered this desolate clearing, I felt something stronger than despair. The fire could be stopped. The life could be saved. Avima and I were not alone.

As the pain of the trees grew less, as the power of the life essence made its mark, I felt something different. Something I'd felt before, but I hadn't had time to figure it out. Now, however, this different cry in my head came clear as the trees quieted. It came from somewhere still ahead, deep in the flames that whipped free. Someone, hurt so badly--

--Annalynne! Focus! This isn't done yet!-- Avima's voice cut across my thoughts. Her words were harsh and fearful, but that wasn't surprising in the situation. Still, I shoved them to one side to get a grasp on what I was feeling. The source burned into me, and I could see my legs in my head again, blistered and raw, could feel the unimaginable pain. Then there was a deep groan in my head, and I could feel the life dimming.

I had more power left, and I could feel that the fire was almost gone, with the help of the other Forest Intimates. They could handle it, but the life that I could sense trickled away faster and faster, spurring me to action without thought.

I darted from the center of the destruction, fast as only the wind could make me, and dove into one of the last havens of the fire, soaring on verdant wings.

--Annalynne! NO!!--Avima roared in my head. The force of it was a gale, making me physically stumble in the face of its power. But I couldn't stop. I wouldn't let something die because I did not do what little I could. Not anymore.

I paved the way before me with the vines, quenching the fire towards my goal. Even as I did so, I began to reach the last reserves of my life essence, but the fire had not had time to spread too far, so it wasn't long before I found what I was looking for.

A...a human body. Scorched so badly that I couldn't even tell what sex it was anymore, much less if it was anyone I had used to know. I swooped down beside, immediately forcing the last dregs of my power out through my hands, placing them as gently as I could on the weakly rising chest. Slowly, painfully slowly, I could feel damage begin to mend with the life. Skin struggled to grow and reknit itself, covering blackened tissue. Blisters swelled, burst, and then healed over into shiny ovals. As the skin became whole, hair follicles were stimulated, and thin fuzz began to appear, light and fine even in the dusky atmosphere. Muscles, decimated by the fire, grew stronger and larger, making up for the lost matter.

The feeling as I healed that body was beyond description. I thought I'd felt joy before, but never this ecstasy. Never this sense of right.

The body was by no means perfect by the time I felt my power give out, but it was not nearly so close to death. Unfortunately, the remainder of my energy had had to focus on the internal parts of the body. It still looked horribly painful, with wide raw patches and blisters weeping. Gathering it up, I turned without thought to stumble towards town. If I could just get it...him...there, I could leave him somewhere where he could be found and taken care of. If I could only make it. To. Town.

How did I know where town was? How was I going to find my—It didn't matter right now. I was so tired I wasn't sure I would make it there anyway.

I couldn't remember ever being this exhausted before. This was deeper than weary muscles, deep to my center where my power was born. I had given as much of it as I could, and it had taken a toll. I focused on putting one foot in front of the other, praying that I wouldn't just fall down and stay there.

I did eventually make it, but even going as quickly as I could it seemed to take an eternity. The boy twitched and moaned everytime I jostled him, and his semi-conscious agony stabbed at me. I almost sobbed when I saw a human house through the trees, and then a street light, and a stop sign.

I stumbled the last few feet into a backyard and carefully laid down the boy on a patch of green grass. Anxious to get him help, I lurched to the backdoor and banged on it with both fists, before rushing quickly back towards safety.

I was forcing my limbs back to the woods, past the body, when something caught my attention, but I forced my weary brain back into focus and stumbled into the trees. Hopefully, another human would answer my knock at any moment, and I didn't think the focus should be on me and my viney appearance, rather than the boy's injuries.

It was only as I stood, hidden in shadow, that I was able to think about what I had seen, what had grabbed at me from that boy. Some strange, sharp color, like the sky had fallen to the ground...A woman emerged from the house, found the boy, and immediately rushed back inside, hopefully to dial nine-one-one. As sirens sounded in the distance, she ran back out and gingerly laid a blanket over the boy's semi-healed flesh. Over his pale, unprotected body. On a body as naked as a new-born, where could I have seen that weird flash of blue?


	14. Chapter 14

Thanks, raeroochella, for continuing to try to review

Thanks, raeroochella, for continuing to try to review. Though reviews aren't the sole reason for writing, they sure are encouraging . Anyway, if you read and like, give me a shout. Or don't. I'll be writing either way. Oh, and I'm posting now in !

Chapter 14

I had no energy left to ponder all my questions. I had barely managed to carry the boy to safety, and now all I wanted to do was collapse on the earth and sleep through the seasons. But the nearness of so much civilzation was already making me nervous; it kept hitting me, just how far I'd come from my old existence. When before they had offered security and normalcy, now the structured streets and tidy houses seemed too close, too confining, just waiting to trap me away from the trees. My trees. My forest, the place I'd come to think of as home. I was perfectly content to remain there forever, solitary except for Avima to teach me what I needed to know...

Avima. In a flash, I remembered my flight from the clearing, and Avima's voice in my head, shocking with its intensity, telling me not to go. But I had gone anyway. I couldn't have denied the plea in that fading life; it went against everything I was growing to be. But even after I'd flown to the boy, and drained the last bits of my power into his pitiful body, it had not occurred to me to turn and seek more help from Avima or any of the Forest Intimate. Surely she wouldn't have been so angry at my disobedience to refuse to help? That boy was another life, filled with the essence that was so crucial to all survival, but no one had moved to fly with me. I doubted I'd gone unnoticed, after all, considering the determination with which I'd forced my power into him. However, I had only felt a finite number of Forest Intimate around me, back in the circle of ashes. Maybe the fire had gotten out of hand again, and no one could be spared. That would make sense.

With that issue resolved, I turned and struggled back into the forest, wanting nothing more than a safe place where my limbs could give out, and I could finally rest. I focused on putting one foot in front of the other, twenty yards into the trees, thirty, forty, determined to keep moving. In fact, I was so absorbed in staying upright that I'd gone a good distance before I figured out that the pressure in my head was not just a stress headache brewing. The moment I took notice of it, it changed from mild sensation to heavy energy, hitting me with a brutal force, a harsh wave of emotion that nearly took my breath away. I jerked my head upright, shocked, wondering what could be going wrong now.

Intense eyes confronted my gaze, boring into me.

The Forest Intimate (they were the only ones I could think of able to emanate this kind of power) stood in a solid semicircle before me. I hadn't had a chance to actually look at them in the burnt clearing, being more occupied with other things, but now I did, and I had scant seconds to be amazed.

Subconsciously, I had assumed that all the Forest Intimate would look similar to Avima and me. And they did, in a way. They were all covered in leaves and vine-like limbs, showing their connection to the life essence and the forest around them. But that was where the similarities stopped.

Some forms I recognized, and others were entirely alien to me. There was the shape of a stag, with hard bark hooves and knobbled branches for antlers. Another appeared to be a leafy rabbit, similar to the form in which I'd first seen Avima. In my few moments of staring, I also saw squirrels, beavers, badgers, foxes, birds, and then many others that were too strange, or obscured by shadow, for me to make out.

Eventually, my exhausted brain noticed that they all had one other thing in common: none looked particularly happy to see me.

I swallowed, suddenly aware of just how tense the silence had become. I glanced nervously around, trying to find the cause of the friction, when I happened to catch a glimpse of Avima, far down the line. A swift rush of relief flooded through me; here was a familiar face. Maybe she could explain wasn't happening.

But my hope died when my eyes found hers. They were just like all the others, cold and hard with a censure that I couldn't understand.

In the end, it was Avima who stepped forward. Perhaps the fact that she was my teacher gave her special authority in whatever this situation was. She slowly paced towards me, graceful even in her gravity.

Finally, she stood directly in front of me, shielding me momentarily from the stares.

"Annalynne." She spoke physically, loud enough that everyone could hear. Now her eyes were different, shadowed with emotions that made no sense. Anger and frustration I understood, but that tinge of guilt?

Shame?

"Annalynne, why did you disobey me?" She looked deep into my eyes, serious and disapproving once more.

I felt disgraced, even though my actions had been for the best reasons. Avima had taken me to the forest, had shown me the connections, had earned my respect a thousand times over. Her life spanned centuries, and I, a teenager, had refused her order and struck out on my own mission. If I'd still had human skin, I would have blushed. How young and irresponsible I must have looked to them all.

"I, I'm sorry, Avima. I know you said not to go. I didn't mean to be disobedient, or disrespectful." Her eyes did not change in the slightest. "I just heard a...a cry in the forest, something different from the trees, and I thought you all had the fire in control. I mean, there are so many of you, and the fire was dying out, and, and," I realized I was babbling, and paused to take a steadying breath.

No one moved, no one offered any sort of forgiveness. Under the mortification, I felt the first stirrings of confusion. Yes, I should have listened to Avima more closely, or at least explained where I was going. But, hadn't they heard the pain, the silent screaming in their heads as well? Someone had had to go! So perhaps I should learn a little more discipline, a little more control, but overall I'd been in the right. What was I supposed to do now, grovel? I closed my eyes for a moment, twisting my fingers together.

"I just had to save the life, Avima. The boy." A collective gasp went through the watchers, startling me, but I kept on. Hadn't they heard him? "He was so terribly burnt, but his heart was still beating when I found him! I didn't have enough left to heal him completely, so I took him to the town, left him in a backyard." I finally dared to look up again, and now their faces had changed. They ranged from stunned to outraged, and Avima was the only exception. That strange look was back on her face. At least she wasn't glaring at me.

I didn't think I could take this anymore. The pressure had never ceased straining at me, dragging achey fingers of tension through my mind.

"Avima, I'm sorry!" I stared at her, bewildered. "What was I supposed to have done? What's so wrong?"

Her eyes softened a little, but they still drilled into me. She looked at me for a moment longer, seeming to judge something.

"Annalynne, you truly don't understand, do you? I have made a serious mistake." She sighed deeply, blinking for the first time in minutes. "How could I have known you'd be tested so quickly? I wanted to give you time to adjust, to absorb it all. To absorb the truth." Her voice sounded sad and torn now, instead of harsh.

"It is serious enough that you disobeyed me, so quickly into your first crisis. Then, you left trees burning that could have been spared seconds of agony, had you stayed and kept your power with ours. But these things can be contributed to a lack of experience, to the stress and overwhelm of the situation." I lowered my eyes again, wishing I could bury myself in the earth under my feet.

"It was what you did after that was so grievous, that has caused such a gathering to be called. Annlynne, why," she took a deep breath, almost a sob "Why did you save the human?"

My shoulders stiffened, and I sucked in breath, astonished.

"What do you mean, why did I save the human?"

"I thought to spare you this, until you were strong enough to understand it. I had hoped, that after seeing the destruction that they wrought so recently, you would be strong enough, and that this would be unnecessary. How could you save a human, now that you are a Forest Intimate?"

Confusion was first and foremost in my mind, but anger ran a close second. Further back, a sickening sense of betrayal lingered, not fully recognized.

This couldn't be right. Couldn't be happening.

My voice rose to a shout, echoing around the clearing.

"How could I save him?" Before I knew it, I was right up in Avima's face. Very human of me. "How could I not save him? He was still alive, and I could help! I could finally heal something, Avima! That's what you taught me to do, wasn't it?

"I don't think you understand something, Annalynne. I cannot be gentle any longer." Most of the sadness was gone, and some of the old condescension was back, but with something else. Something that seemed remarkably like nervousness.

"Do you not realize what humans do to us, to the forest around us? They have lost any ties they ever had with this world. They cannot see the life essence, and they would not have the depth to respect it even if they could. They destroy us, the life that they call on for their sustenance, for their buildings, for their very life. Don't you see, Annalynne? That is why we're here, why you changed."

"Humanity is the danger I've been preparing you to fight against."

I stood stock still for an eternity, hardly breathing, numb to any thought, any sensation. Slowly, a trickle came back in, a trickle that warmed me, sending energy coursing through limbs that had been so tired. The trickle broke through more of the barriers I'd immediately put on my thoughts, the ones that gave me a few seconds of peace. It turned into a stream, and then a rush, and then a torrent. It burned through my veins, searing into my brain and down to my toes. Almost outside my awareness, a blast tore through the clearing, whipping leaves from limbs and causing the Forest Intimate to shuffle uneasily, the first movement I'd seen them make.

Anger. So much that I shouldn't have been able to contain, but I did. I had before. But now I knew who I was, I knew what I could do. I wouldn't waste it growing dandelions, this time.

There was still grief there, and confusion, and doubt. Doubt about everything I thought had been solid, but which now seemed so fragile. But none of it was strong enough to stop the rage.

The grass at my feet wriggled, feeding off the energy from my skin. I looked down, considering.

And then, with a single thought, a powerful wave of energy washed out from me like ferocious ripples in a pool. All the specks of life essence flared as they fed off of me, and before I took any more time to consider what I was doing, the plants shot up, covering the growth of months in seconds, going far past their normal bounds, twining around the stunned Forest Intimate, trapping hooves and paws and feet, wrapping limbs that wanted to struggle free, but couldn't, not for fear of hurting precious life. Within thirty seconds, I was the only creature standing mobile. Avima stared at me with astonished eyes ought of her web of green.

"You have spent all this time," I said carefully, painstakingly, "training me to attack my own kind? What, you thought that when I figured it out I would simply accept it, since it came from you? You let me learn to love this, to call it home, and you never thought to mention this was part of the bargain?" I fell silent, at a sudden loss as to what to do now. I knew I had crossed a line. A line that could probably never be recrossed, but at the moment, I didn't care. I had never felt quite so alone, or so betrayed.

"Annalynne, you don't understand." I could hear Avima struggling for calm. "You have seen, you know, just exactly what humanity is capable of. They shred whole forests, just to fuel their lust for conquering. They burn and tear and kill, they slaughter animals so that they can nail their bodies to a wall. They clog the sky with their stink, disregarding the fact that doing so will cause their fall. How could we not try to stop them? How, Annalynne?"

For a moment, I could say nothing. The truth of her words slammed into the pit of my stomach, making me want to retch. So many humans did wreak havoc, and destroy, with infintesimal thought for the consequences. The understanding of nature was nearly dead in most places, as humans traded that ancient connection for bigger houses, shinier cars, more luxury, more things.

Nearly dead. Most humans. But not all of them. Not all of us. Not all wanted it to be that way.

I stared back into Avima's eyes, and the intensity there made her pull back, cringing away from me.

Good.

"Not them, Avima. Me. Mine. Us. I am human."

"No, you have become Forest Intimate. We do not judge where the true ones come from. We take in all who have the potential, the depth, the will--"

"I am human." I said again. "I am human, and always will be. I will not help you destroy my people. How is that any better than what we do? How?!​?"

The clearing grew smaller and smaller as I shot away from it, to where I could shriek through the sky, leaving the Intimate behind to find their own way out of my mess of vines.

It took so few seconds for a world to be tossed upside down. So few, but I should know that already. I should be used to it by this point.

I was not looking back.


End file.
